sketches, lavender tattoo, ear weights.
finished, one of a kind set, 7/16″
lavender
finished
on my throne
study for a thigh tattoo
The Woman.
- In reviews,
Originally Published on: Nov 19, 2012
What are you afraid of?
I mean, in your everyday life. What do you actually fear?
I personally am not afraid that someone in a hockey mask will chop me to pieces at summer camp. I’m not really worried about zombies, monsters, or mutated townsfolk in New Mexico wastelands. I don’t shudder to think that cave creatures will eat me, and I don’t believe in ghosts- not ghosty ghosts, anyway. I’m an atheist so demons don’t frighten me.
Shit, what IS there to fear?
The things that scare me are things that are possible.
I used to get a scared thrill from serial killer sort of movies. Pioughkeepsie Tapes is a great example of this, and I liked it because I watch and read a lot of true-crime nonfiction. The cop’s eye view, though- it makes another layer there, a bit of distance. No matter how the suspense that “the killer could be watching this with you in the theater” is attempted, those crimes are in the past, and therefore not something possible, something frightening.
Movies like “Henry” or “I Spit on Your Grave” are along these lines. The plot is possible, (though unlikely) and the themes of vulnerability are frightening. There’s only so many times I can be frightened by the same slasher plot, so many times that the thought of a serial killer, the slim chance of that, can make me horrified. And if a film is a remake- for me, it barely counts. I have a hard time immersing myself in the film if I have seen it before. I spend my time looking for plot changes, comparing the new cast to the old, rather than suspending my disbelief.
So what actually scares me? When I see a movie with a character that is narcissistic, abusive- someone who is manipulative enough to pass as normal to others- I start to get a little scared. Domestic abuse scares the shit out of me. Rape and child abuse, neglect and sexual assault. Movies like A Serbian Film scare the crap out of me- those things happen, that stuff exists, and worse. And there are people all around who seem normal who pay per view…
So, given all this, The Woman is a great horror movie. And not just a great horror movie, but potentially a game-changer.
To have a female character not run, not once, not scream- during an entire movie. Regardless of how this is accomplished within the plot, it’s a complete reversal of the usual characterization of women in horror films. The father’s slick, brazen control over his family and his maltreatment of the women in it is believable, and familiar. The first slap is almost a release of the tension in the film. In an abusive relationship, every moment is spent in tension, waiting for the shoe to drop- and the movie does a great job of building that tension, and then releasing it.
Of course the ending is extreme. However there is one scene which stands out- as the Woman is killing the father, she pumps her arm inside his wound, staring into his eyes. It’s definitely a sexual moment, a reversal, again, of the usual theme in horror. She’s fisting his wound, violating him physically in a violent manner. Usually in horror only women are violated this way, and with this much eroticism to the violence.
The character of the son, with his nascent sociopathy and sadism, was absolutely chilling. Men who are as disturbed and abusive as the father in this film do NOT make good parents to daughters OR sons. It’s questionable whether that character could have been redeemed at any point, whether it’s in his genes or taught- but that he purposely explains his motives and actions to the son suggests it is both.
The mother’s hopelessness in the situation and her seeming inability to do anything useful is very accurate. In an abusive relationship of long standing, the abused person becomes listless, unable to make decisions. The mother in this film has obviously been taught well that there is no hope for her; that there is no escape, and that her situation, bad as it is, is the best she will ever get.
This is horror. This is something that happens, that CAN happen. People like the father in this film exist, and they are not “crazy-looking”, they are not wearing skin masks, out on the edge of society. They preach in the church and sell the real estate and run the bank. They are high-functioning and they exist. When they’re caught, IF they are caught, nobody can believe it. Often the abused in the family are not believed. And through slow escalation, their abuses can eventually become extreme and unbelievable. I have to add this character to the list of accurately-depicted narcissists in film. He’s apt, he’s correct, and his casual ownership of others, his assumed control over them, is exactly how these people operate in real life.
The only real problems with this, for me, were the crappy, overclocked soundtrack (WAY TOO LOUD, wtf?) and the allowance of bits of humor in the violence and catharsis at the end. There is no reason to shy away and lighten the mood during a cathartic scene- just let the intensity stay high, please. Hitting the dog-sister in the head with a goofy “clang” doesn’t add much to the scene, and dilutes the character of the woman into slapstick, instead of wordless menace.
I read a lot about crap like extreme neglect, and feral children, and I thought the main character was very well written on that level.
This movie triggered me, and scared me. It’s the first movie I’ve seen in a while, too, in which the bad guys did NOT look like cartoon versions of my friends, (*coughinsidiouscough*, *hic30daysofnightcup*) but like the kind of people I have known in real life to be completely rotten.
So- yes, it’s a great horror movie. It scared the crap out of me, right up to the ending- which made me feel better. Just like any great horror movie, you get to ride away, while leatherface dances alone.
jinny's chapter, an excerpt.
- In art,
jinny greenteeth
excerpt from chapter 12 of the horrors.
Jinny Greenteeth is considered a dark sidhe, a wicked fairy. Alternately some believe she is the ghost of a woman murdered in the bog. She’s attractive at first, luring you in. Then she will grab you, hold you tight, and pull you under. Then she devours you.
She may pretend to be a drowning woman, in order to get you into the water- or a beautiful nude woman, swimming, enticing you. She haunts rivers, ponds, and bogs. Some say she is a terrestrial mermaid, cut off from the ocean and forced to stay in freshwater.
The only way to escape her is to look away and not allow her to touch you. Once she’s touched you, like weeds, she will wrap around you and bring you under the surface.
jinny’s chapter, an excerpt.
- In art,
jinny greenteeth
excerpt from chapter 12 of the horrors.
Jinny Greenteeth is considered a dark sidhe, a wicked fairy. Alternately some believe she is the ghost of a woman murdered in the bog. She’s attractive at first, luring you in. Then she will grab you, hold you tight, and pull you under. Then she devours you.
She may pretend to be a drowning woman, in order to get you into the water- or a beautiful nude woman, swimming, enticing you. She haunts rivers, ponds, and bogs. Some say she is a terrestrial mermaid, cut off from the ocean and forced to stay in freshwater.
The only way to escape her is to look away and not allow her to touch you. Once she’s touched you, like weeds, she will wrap around you and bring you under the surface.
How facebook wants you to waste your money
- In you,
Recently, I posted about how it was a waste of time to post anything in-depth directly to sites like facebook. You might think that it would be ok to do that, if you had a bottomless source of funds to pay to “boost” your posts.
It’s still a waste of time.
As things stand, people can follow or “like” you or your page on fb. About ten percent of those people will see anything you post- the site uses a specific algorhythm to prevent everyone who followed from seeing your posts. They want you to pay for that.
People following your page probably don’t realize this; they think you just rarely, or never, post. But facebook makes sure you know that you can pay them for the privilege of letting your posts get through.
Attention is the currency of the internet.
I’m paying attention to you for a moment.
I’ve been trying to express this for a while now. For some reason, it’s very hard to explain; I can’t quite grasp the right words to get my point across.
Websites that provoke, they just want traffic, and they get it by being intentionally offensive to you. A site that is poorly built so that you have to click around to find the one thing you went there for? Each time you click it counts as “traffic”.
When you share, or repost something you find horrible or rude, it creates more links to it- making it more relevant in searches online, so that even more people get to find it.
Let’s say you have tattoos, and have just read an article saying that people with tattoos are scumbags.
Don’t link to that article, repost it everywhere, talk about it, give it attention- because it makes that result rise higher in searches for “tattoo”, you see?
Instead, write your own opinion. A rebuttal or explanation. And link to that, talk about that.
And for people wondering why e-commerce sites don’t fix things since they “want our money”…THEY DON’T WANT YOUR MONEY. (especially if you are a seller, a user, and not a buyer)
They want your TRAFFIC, so their stock value goes up, so their ads and affiliate links pay them more. They want you clicking on their site, that is all.
No matter what the site does or if there are ads or not, attention is the currency of the internet, and clicks/hits/views are how that currency is measured.
And if you find something you agree with, that you like- well hell, share that link. Reblog, follow, add, share, twit, whatever it is that you use or do- share the good things around.
I’m through paying out attention to things that don’t feed my mind and to derivative shit.
Spend your attention wisely. ( Jun 6, 2012)
(Reposting to add, I’ve found donotlink helpful in my efforts to spend my attention wisely.
http://www.donotlink.com/dnl/faq)
The Krasue: page 6 of The Horrors.
The krasue is a Thai monster, which feeds on entrails, fetuses, placenta, and babies. It’s considered very dangerous to pregnant women, and people put thorny branches around the house to keep it away when someone in the home gets pregnant. It glows red (as seen in this video) and floats. The krasue lives as a normal person during the day- but at night, its head and entrails separate from its body, which it leaves hidden away from view. It must go back to its body by daylight and reattach itself.
The krasue is Thai, but similar beings are known throughout southeast Asia. In all cases, it eats fetuses right out of the womb, and if it can’t find that, it eats animals’ guts or feces. If you leave clothing out overnight to dry, it will wipe its mouth on them, leaving slime, blood, and gore behind. Some say the krasue is a witch, who cast the wrong incantations and was cursed. Others think it is a woman who killed someone in a previous lifetime, or who had an abortion, or even an older woman jealous that she can no longer get pregnant. Still others believe it to be a ghost or supernatural creature, not human at all.
In the image, a krasue has just succeeded in stealing a fetus from a pregnant woman, and flies off, triumphant, to eat it.
(All this and more about the krasue, in my book!)
This Is The First Awesome Post
- In Uncategorized,
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me?” he thought. It wasn’t a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather.
Photo by Unsplash
Introduction
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me?” he thought. It wasn’t a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather.
The Plot
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright.
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame.By Some Thinker
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me?” he thought. It wasn’t a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.
