Month: October 2009

Spaceship in Spanish is “nave espacial”

Contrast

When he lays down with me, it is as if my flesh lightens, I become milk spilled against the shaded tan of his nutshell skin, we are so distinct. I feel drawn to our differences, how his muscles are shaped dissimilar from mine. The softness of my body, the taut, fragile corners of his. Sometimes I will wake when he sleeps and simply admire him, this curious and perpetually buoyant creature with the temerity to fall in love.

We are so full of possibility, I can see it like maps on the inside of my eyes.

Disparity

He is slow to reply when we are sad, our bodies curled heavily together, depressed letters thrown to the bed in a mess. I do not react well to silence, not while asleep at night, not when we speak. His pause, the length of fifteen breaths, disrupts my communication, sends me casting nets, discarding what I started with, trawling the ocean of our alphabet for a topic, any topic, that will be worthy of response, anything to delay my please talk to me.

Somewhere in the gaps when he’s not speaking, there must be something to say.

Vancouver Halloween lead-up

I’m driving down with Matthew and Sarah tonight to Seattle and plan to sew raw red sequins onto my white hallowe’en bustier all the way. We’re going to The Chapel tonight, a church converted into a night club, to dance under fire-spinners. Good times.

For those sticking around in Vancouver, there’s also fun things to do:

  • The Leaky Heaven Circus presents HOWL: A Haunted Hall.
    Friday, October 23rd: 7 – 10pm
    Saturday, October 24th: 7 – 10pm
    Sunday, October 25th: 2 – 5 pm

    At the Russian Hall (600 Campbell Avenue), sliding scale. Cash only at the door please. The Haunted Hall can be entered at any time during the above slots. During a tour of the Haunted Russian Hall, subjects will be subjected to a variety of frightening ordeals to awaken their deepest phobias. Studies will be conducted and trepidations will be calculated on a demographic map of the city. A panel of Child Psychologists (aged 8 through 14) will counsel you through a debriefing session at the end of your journey through fear. All ages welcome. Costumes are a plus.

  • Harm’s Road + Creaking Planks at the Rickshaw.
    Friday, October 23rd:

    Harm’s Road and The Creaking Planks compete for the title of Most Delightfully Ridiculous! Don’t relax your standards of ridiculousness for a moment! DEMAND that they deliver, and they SHALL!! Bonus points for COSTUMES! Come early for the Costume Contest! There will be kooky prizes and adoration for the winners!
    Tickets $10 at the door at The Rickshaw Theatre: 254 E Hastings at Main.

  • Midnight Movies at the Rio: Hedwig & the Angry Inch and Velvet Goldmine.
    Friday, October 23rd: midnight!

    The Rio Theatre (1660 East Broadway at Commercial Drive Broadway Skytrain) & Black Dog Video present a Friday Midnight Musical Double Bill of HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH and VELVET GOLDMINE. Dress in costume and win fabulous prizes! Hosted by Burgundy Brixx! Admission is $10 ($8 in costume).

  • Ed Wood’s Orgy of the Dead – LIVE! Ghouls, Girls, and Gore! by the Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society.
    Friday, October 23rd & Saturday, October 24th: Doors 8pm – Show 9pm.

    If you’re a fan of Burlesque, horror, sexploitation, b-movies or just plain fun you’ll love this feature production from Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society. The eighteen member, all star cast will make you squirm in your seats. At the WISE Hall – 1882 Adanac St. – just off Commercial Drive. Tix $25, on-line, from select retailers and at the door.

  • Sex & Death: A Festival of Short Plays by Don Nigro.
    Friday, October 23rd: Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm.
    Saturday, October 24th: Doors at 2:30 pm and Show at 3:00 pm. Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm. (Saturday’s showings will present all six plays in the festival. All other showings will present four.)

    Spectral Theatre Society and the UBC Players are excited to announce their co-production of “Sex and Death: Six Short Plays by Don Nigro”. Creepy, thrilling and sexy shorts by one of America’s premier playwrights, co-presented by Vancouver’s premier creepy, thrilling and sexy theatre society! Subject matter may not be suitable for all ages. Seating is limited so be sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time.

  • EVIL DEAD: The Musical at the Vogue.
    Friday, October 23rd – November 14th: 8 pm

    Blood, guts, gore, and laughter! Evil Dead: The Musical, the smash hit show from Toronto, New York and Calgary has all the makings to be this decade’s Rocky Horror Show. Based on the wildly popular cult movie series (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Army of Darkness) five vacationing college students looking for fun break into a secluded cabin in the woods. There they discover instead The Necronomicon, an ancient flesh-bound book containing blood-inked spells with the power to summon the demons of Candar. It’s up to Ash, the meek S-mart Housewares employee, to fight off the demons any way he can. Or…he’ll be dead by dawn. (All to song and dance!) But dear audiences, BEWARE! If you sit too close to the stage, in the area we like to call: “The SPLATTER ZONE,” you are bound to leave the theatre covered in blood. Ask for the Splatter Zone by name when you book your tickets!

    Tickets, (including Splatter Zone Tickets), start at $25, available at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.ca or call 604.280.4444.

  • BLOODSHOTS Canada 2009 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Challenge
    SHOOTING: Friday October 23 – 7:00pm – Sunday October 25 – 7:00pm
    SCREENING: Wednesday October 28 – 8:00pm at the Anza Club (3 W. 8th, Vancouver)

    The people who brought you Vancouver’s CINEMUERTE FILM FESTIVAL (1999-2005) are getting set to bring you the 6th annual BloodShots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Contest – 25 Teams of filmmakers all fighting against the clock to make the best horror film they possibly can. There will be celebrity judges, fabulous prizes and several tons of fake blood! At 7:00pm on Friday October 23, registered participants are given envelopes containing a horror subgenre (in past years this has included haunted house, giallo, backwoods horror, necrophilia film and more!), a weapon, a prop and a line of dialogue. They then have 48 hours to return their finished 2-7 minute film on DVD! Prize for Best Hallowe’en Costume at Screening.

  • Sin City Halloween Warm-Up Fetish Party at Club 23 West.
    Saturday, October 24th: 9 pm

    Due to overwhelming demand, Sin City presents the kinkiest PRE-HALLOWEEN party in the city, warming up for the main event : SIN CITY FETISH HALLOWEEN on Nov 1 at Celebrities! We’ll be presenting a special Halloween-themed photo booth at this party, so make sure and get some saucy photos to mark the occasion! Absolutely no streetwear or regular daywear! As always, we’re always on the lookout for people to showcase their awesome outfits and ideas, and any fetish outfit as per the dress code outlined in the main group listing will do – and will be absolutely appreciated! Special pass for 3 off cover. Otherwise, it’s $12.

  • Renegade Parade of Lost Souls a community action.
    Saturday, October 24th: 7:00 – 10:30 pm

    The Public Dreams Society, that has historically put on The Parade of Lost Souls annually, on the Saturday prior to Halloween, is not hosting it this year. instead, it’s up the community as a group of free citizens to make it happen! Dress in costume! Make music! There will be fire performances at the tennis court. Grandview Park, Commercial Drive.

    • a modern horror epic

    video found via Kevin

    Names Of the Dead:

    Every year, more than 44,000 Americans die simply because have no health insurance.

    I have created this project in their memory. I hope that honoring them will help us end this senseless loss of American lives. If you have lost a loved one, please share the story of that loved one with us. Help us ensure that their legacy is a more just America, where every life that can be saved will be saved.

    A simple yet spooky and powerful little website, Names Of the Dead is collecting precisely what it says, the names, ages, and hometowns of everyone who’s died from being unable to afford healthcare. They scroll in a list on the left of the screen, white on black and gray, and it seems the names are almost endless, as every time you refresh, new names have been added.

    I just signed Congressman Alan Grayson’s petition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid demanding he move the Senate forward and pass health care reform now.

    I hope you’ll sign too.

    One of the Family has fallen on tough times and sincerely needs our support!

    bwpaintbrush.jpg

    Hey everyone, Ink Tea’s in trouble!

    Friend-family Cole, who I love very much, has been having a damned hard time surfing the warm industry this year. In spite of desperately trying to find income, job hunting like mad, and generally being as responsible as a human can, she’s reached the point where she has no more unemployment benefits, no job, and very little in the kitchen, an untenable situation, one she’s helped me rise from in the past.

    furtive.jpg

    I am an Arts Administrator, photographer, and writer, based in Minneapolis, (or, alternatively, in Starving Artist land), trying very hard to get work. I have been unemployed for over a year now, in spite of lots of office skills, lots of experience, and lots of mailed resumes. I was one of the two Best New Spoken Word Artists of 2009 in Minnesota’s Urban Griots Spoken Word Awards and represented Minneapolis at the 2009 Women of the World poetry slam in Detroit. I also teach poetry to immigrant children.

    I will print photos from my flickr account at your discretion, do headshots and portraits, write poems for you, make mixed tapes for you, scrub your kitchen floor, or make you a delicious vegan dinner, if you can help me pay my rent and student loans off.

    Here is her Etsy, where my favourite is her Sponsor a Roll of Film program. If you’re feeling more direct, her Paypal address is inktea at gmail.com. Please help if you can!

    my kingdom for a needle and white thread

    Inscentinel: using bees to sniff out bombs.

    –::–


    I was pulled into a conversation recently regarding first impressions, social interaction and all manner of related sundry, and it came out that I was being asked for basic rules of conduct. Oddly, I had some. Here’s what spilled:

    Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t steal. Never agree to be in a relationship kept secret. Never stay for love alone or if the other is in it purely for sport. It might not feel like it, but there are six billion people on this planet and you are compatible with a fair chunk of them, so don’t lose hope if it doesn’t work out. Fib if you must, on the level of secret surprise birthday parties or spending the morning in bed with your lover but telling your boss you’re sick, but nothing more important should ever be anything but truth. In games, in relationships, any time you are responsible for someone else, you had better damned well be responsible for them, and make sure you take care of them as well or better as you care for yourself. Campground rules, ever and always, making sure everyone is better when you leave them then when you found them, always and ever, amen.

    There was some other blather, (if you’re showing yourself as other than you are to make a good first impression, then don’t expect people to stick around later when you reveal yourself to be other than you presented, not to worry so much about comparing yourself to other people, because that’s precisely what those other people are doing too), all basics, but new to my friend, which got me thinking again about what other people take for granted that I don’t know yet.

    It was years before I discovered the best way to brush my hair is in the shower with conditioner, but as soon as I had the revelation, and explained it, it seemed it was an accidental secret, everyone else just assumed I knew.

    So, in the interest of education, amusement, and conversation, what’re yours?