WWTGD? p3

 
Situation: Things have been going pretty crappy for me lately, and I'm having some trust issues because of it.

Ghoul Asked for Advice: Buffy, Willow, Anya

Movie Used: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 4 episode 4, series episode 60  "Fear Itself")

plot: It's the gang's first Hallowe'en in college, and they decide to go to a party on campus. But instead of a nice relaxing night, they find themselves having to face a real haunted house and the demon of fear.

Quotes: "She didn't even touch her pumpkin. It's a freak with no face." -Willow to Oz and Xander

"This is an encouragement talk? I thought it was a share my pain." - Buffy to Willow

"I forgot to be hungry." -Buffy to Willow when seeing her recent ex-boyfriend

"Does stretching count?" - Buffy in reply to why she hasn't been joining in class.

"12 years old and I couldn't go trick or treating by myself. No, he wanted the candy, I was just the beard." -Buffy to her mom while remembering past Hallowe'ens with her dad.

"I dont' know, starting to see a pattern here. Open your heart to someone and he bails on you. Starting to think it's better to not let anyone in." - Buffy expressing her fear of being alone

"Certainly didn't help that my last boyfriend turned out to be a homicidal robot." -Buffy's mom on her own heartbreak.

"If Parker shows up, we'll just axe murder him. That's Halloweeny." -Willow on phone to Buffy

"Terrifying. If I were Abbott and Costello, this would be fairly traumatic." -Buffy on seeing the decorations at the haunted house party.

"That was not sanitary." -Willow after seeing a live spider

"Let's get to the party part of the party." -Buffy after arriving at the haunted house party.

"We need help, we need the only person who can make sense of this." -Buffy to Oz, Xander and Willow after they realize the party is hexed.

"I can handle the dark forces as good as anyone else." -Willow complaining to Oz

"There is no problem that can't be solved by chocolate." -Buffy to the whole group while eating candy.

"I was just thinking about the life of a pumpkin. Grow up in the sun, happily entwined with others then someone comes along cuts you open and rips your guts out."- Buffy pouting over her jack-o-lantern.

Favourite Scene: Near the end of the episode where Giles kicks down the door saving everyone with a chainsaw.

Quotes Using: "There is no problem that can't be solved by chocolate."   and  "I can handle the dark forces as good as anyone else."

My Interpretation: Things may seem bigger than they really are. When we find ourselves faced with something that at that moment, feels like the floor is caving in on us, panic can set in. We have to remind ourselves that if we just take a breath and relax a bit, we'll be able to work through it. Even when the answer isn't the one we were hoping for, we can face our worst insecurities.

In this episode, everyone is starting to feel the pull of their lives shifting around them. Xander being the only one not in college, is feeling left out and forgotten. Oz's fear is not being able to control his werewolf nature, and begins pulling away isolating himself on purpose in order to keep everyone safe. Willow, is feeling mocked and semi-powerless as she dives into her magick; unsure her friends will ever be fully willing to support her choices. Buffy has just come out of a bad relationship/one night stand, with her heart broken and romantic reality shattered. Anya is also finding herself feeling things she has ignored for too long, now that she's dating Xander.
Everyone's insecurity is manifested and magnified once they enter the haunted house party, after learning the demon of fear has been summons. Each under the illusion that they are separate and alone unable to connect with the rest of the group. When in reality, they are trapped in their own minds until they find themselves; literally back in the same room facing each other. It's only as a group that they have the courage to face their fears, and defeat the demon.
The inside joke being, the demon of fear is only a few centimeters high; giving notion to the term "nothing to fear but fear itself."

This episode also lays the ground work for much of the season, as each character has to find their own footing in what becomes a transitional stage in their lives.  Relationships for all the characters start, stop, sputter, break, begin again, and challenge them.
There is a scene midway in the episode where the group are walking to the party in their costumes, when they come across a group of military guys with masks. They just at that point, assume they are students in costume; when later in the season they learn something bigger is going on. It opens a floodgate of trust issues for everyone involved.

Alrighty, that's what I'm talking about (I feel better)

Come back next Monday, and see what kind of situation I've gotten myself into and whom I've asked for advice.

WWTGD? p2

Situation:  When shopping for someone you just met, what's the best gift idea?

Ghoul Asked for Advice: Morticia, Wednesday and Gramma Ma Addams and Debbie Jilinsky

Movie Used:  Addams Family Values (1993)

plot: Gomez and Morticia just had a baby, and decide to hire a nanny, Debbie. When she arrives, she sets her sights on Fester, tricking him into marrying her. Because Wednesday doesn't trust her, Debbie manages to convince Morticia and Gomez to send both Wednesday and Pugsley to camp. While there, Wednesday begins a romance with one of the follow campers. All the while, Debbie is back home plotting ways to kill Fester and steal his fortune.

Quotes:  "Father what is it?" - Wednesday in hospital waiting room

"Oh Gomez, it's dark, it's depressing, its desolate" -Morticia  to Gomez when he shows her the nursery.

"Very good, but which one will bounce?"  -Wednesday to Pugsley,about to throw the baby

"One house, three children, so many windows." -Morticia to Gomez when they hear the kids playing

"Oh I'll be fine. I'm just like any modern woman trying to have it all. Loving husband, a family. Just I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade."  -Morticia to Gomez

"It has to be damp." - Morticia to Debbie when she asks about the men in the family

"All important numbers, police, fire department, morgue." -Morticia to Debbie as she leaves the house with Gomez

"Wednesday's at that very special age when a girl has only one thing on her mind." -Morticia

"These are beautiful things. They're from catalogs."- Debbie

"Oh no, he lives." -Morticia reading to the baby from Cat in the Hat

"Well, you have a black dress." -Gramma Ma Addams to Morticia

"Sometimes people don't listen. I have to use persuasion. And slides." -Debbie

"An axe. That takes me back." -Gramma Ma Addams

"Don't I yearn and ache and shop?" -Debbie

Favourite Scene: Near the end when the character of Debbie is holding everyone captive and starts telling them her back story.

Using the Quotes: "These are beautiful things. They're from catalogs."   and  "Don't I yearn and ache and shop?"

My Interpretation: Go with the gift cards. Yep. When in doubt, just slap a little bow on a gift card and hand it over.

How well do we really know anyone anymore?  This movie takes it to the comic extreme, having Fester completely blind to the fact the women he's known for 48 hours is a serial killer called the "Black Widow".  The person he trusts most, Wednesday; tries to warn him something is not on the up and up with Debbie, but he refuses to listen. Instead, Fester allows the kids to be sent away, while he ends up in what becomes; for all tents and purposes, a really abusive relationship. Again, done to the comic extreme, but a serious undertone none the less. Debbie manipulates Fester into isolation from his family, while physically and emotionally hurting him every step of the way. Leaving Fester nothing of his former self. She even has him change his physical appearance to match her own.
This also gives to the idea that what we think we want, might not always be the right thing for us.

Alrighty, that's what I'm talking about. (I feel better)

Come back next Monday to see what kind of a situation I've gotten myself into and whom I turned to for advice.

What Would The Ghouls Do?

Divination. There are countless ways to go about using it to answer the questions we find ourselves facing. From tarots, to runes, to astrology etc. Bibliomancy is one of my favourites. That's where you take a book and randomly flip to a page, and interpret the first line/sentence you see.  Whether you've done this or not, I'm sure you've had moments when you have found yourself with a question/situation and suddenly a song will play that seems to fit, or you turn the television on, and there is a show that seems to. Sometimes you find the answer as if by magick, other times, you end up looking at the problem from a different point of view, finding the solution.

Let's call that Moviemancy. And that's what this is. WWTGD? is all about looking at a situation from a new point of view, using movies/tv shows.

Obviously, I'm taking a slightly more of a "nice light snack" approach to this new segment. Most of the questions will be more on the silly side.
That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this; I feel I've let myself become too serious in the last few years. You do absorb the personalities of those around you, and everyone in my life currently, are very serious people.

Situation: I'm at a crossroads, feeling lost and confused. What should I do?

Ghoul Asked for Advice: Lily and Marilyn Munster

Movie Used: The Munsters (season 2 episode 68)  "Herman the Tire Kicker" (aired March 31st 1966)

plot: Lily and Herman decide to buy Marilyn a car. Herman goes to a used car lot, and gets conned into buying a bad car. When they try to take it back, the salesman is gone, and they learn the car was stolen. Herman gets lost driving home, and then arrested for having the stolen vehicle. Lily has to bail him out of jail, while there, they see the car salesman who confesses that he stole it.

Episode quotes: "You have a knack for going to a place just when there is a lull in business" -Lily to Herman

"I don't think even you would buy a car without a motor in it." -Lily to Herman

"It's this waiting around that's so terrible"- Lily to Grandpa and Marilyn

"Grandpa, you know Herman is a kind trusting soul, with a great faith in his fellow human being" -Lily to Grandpa

"Stuck you! Herman, you've been shish-kabobbed!" -Lily to Herman

"Well, it runs"  -Marilyn to Herman

"Don't feel bad, you tried" -Marilyn to Herman

Favourite Scene: When they are sitting around the kitchen table and Lily comments about making the family pancakes and having saved money while buying towels and sheets at the January Black Sales.

Using the quote: "It's this waiting around that's so terrible"     and   "Don't feel bad, you tried"

My interpretation: A crossroads happens for a reason. Either you've come to the end of a cycle, and need to choose to continue, or move on to the next phase. Crossroads are all about decisions, choices and being ready to take that next step. That feeling of being lost, usually comes attached to knowing what the right choice is but not wanting to commit to it out of fear. But you've got to take that leap of faith. Worst that can happen is you make a mistake and try again.
If you find yourself literally lost, stop and take stock of the few things that led you to that position. Guarantee; you will find it happened for a reason. Usually, to get you to notice something in a new way as we all get a little tunnel vision sometimes. Tunnel vision, or not seeing the forest for the trees, is what keeps us moving in circles feeling frustrated and well; lost.

In this episode, Herman literally gets himself lost driving home, and when the police arrest him, not only does he learn about the car being stolen, he's no longer physically lost as they guide him where he's suppose to be. In this case, jail. While there, he meets up with the con man and has an effect on the guy, which changes the life of the conman.  Herman getting lost puts him on the right path to being where he's suppose to be at the right time.


Alrighty, that's what I'm talking about. (I feel better)

Come back next Monday, and see what kind of a situation I've gotten myself into, and whom I turned to for advice.  As this is part of my 365 Days of Hallowe'en, I'll be doing (attempting) this every week till Hallowe'en 2018. You can follow the rest of the Hallowe'en fun on my facebook page (uh here-ish)

Nov 27th 2017

Spudguns! How's it happening? Spiffy, spiffy.   I just thought I'd come in for a moment and yammer. Been so long since I just did a random yammer at you type post.

Righty-ho, righty-ho.  If you haven't swung by my spiffy facebook page yet; you might not know that I've started doing a quiz and a quote each week on there. (here)  That will be once a week for each on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

I've got a new segment for this bloggy-blog coming up next week, so stay tuned for that. I'm doing my best to schedule things so that every week I have something between here, my movie blog and facebook page.  Well, let's face it...no puns intended...the facebook page will be ground zero for this project. 
It should be fun. I mean, man really, who wants to miss the photographric adventures of an inanimate object?  Have I mentioned, I could really use a sidekick on this one...just saying.

While I'm here, should mention that there is the final Mercury retrograde for this year coming up from Dec 3rd 2017-Dec 22nd 2017; and we're still under the influence of the Uranus retrograde until Jan 2nd 2018.

Honestly dude, I'm already feeling the push and pull of that Mercury retrograde, and it's still a few days away.

And on that note....338 days till Hallowe'en 2018

Congrats! You're the Marshmallow Fluff

This is the time of season, when I decide if I'm going to do another year of the movie a day challenge on my movie blog, or join in on a different challenge?  I had planned a bunch of Hallowe'en themed projects for this year, but none of them were completed in time for Hallowe'en, as I needed to wait till the stores were selling Hallowe'en merchandise. So, this cut my actual project time down to a couple of weeks. The tarot cards have been talking about ending a cycle, beginning a new one and not taking things so seriously.  I'm the type of person who over thinks everything. I will get an idea, begin the planning stage, and within a few days start asking "what is my goal of this, why am I doing it, how am I going to get it done?"  and most of the time, talk myself out of it all together; or just end up feeling so pressured and overwhelmed that I give up.

I have a really difficult time finishing projects. One of the reasons I did the original movie a day challenge few years ago.

I've also been feeling guilty about not blogging on this bloggy-blog the last few years. Giving all my love and attention to the movie blog and recently, my youtube.  So, plan B was suppose to have been a project to blog solely on here.  That fell apart at the seams without me even realizing it.

This brings me to my last post, where I was talking about the way society has become whipped cream and blah blah blah.  

I woke up this morning and realized that somehow in the last 48hours, I became whipped cream.

What was the plan B? It was simply to throw out the dateline for the Hallowe'en projects. Instead of  running around like a small tornado trying to cram it all into two weeks time span; I decided to settle into the idea of doing them over the course of the year. That way, when next year comes around, projects are done I just have to edit the final footage. So to speak.

Perfect! Great! Makes total sense!   Only, half of the projects would fit better on the movie blog, and all of them fit better on youtube.  So sort of back where I started. Sort of.  This is where my facebook was suppose to come into play.  As I am part of a blogging foodie group, I need to use my facebook to promote the group. Fine, that part was done.  Or was it?  My facebook is from the prehistoric age of facebook.  Needless to say, issues and glitches every time I tried to change settings to share stuff.

Heads up for plan C. Become a public figure. Create a new and improved page for the group showings and as a place to link the projects. Which worked smooth. So so smooth. Problem solved right. Right?  Yeah, for the most part. Only, since I've been working on there, adding what needs to be added for the group and building the page; I realize the project has already failed. Already gone off the path and morphed into something completely different.

This would be the whipped cream. I've turned into the internet society's version of whipped cream I just ranted about.  How did that happen?

Worst part of this; is that when I originally got the idea for the project few weeks ago, I knew it was only a starting point. That it was meant to morph into something else, or lead me down a different direction. Hell, it was even in the cards! The Fool card telling me to have faith and just dive in, the Tower and Ten of Swords telling me endings and destruction would be needed to grow, the Hermit and Final Judgement talking about new windows of opportunity, the Three of Pentacles talking about art in all it's form.

Moral of today's realization; you don't always see the big picture till the linkage is hubbed together. Yeah, basically, I'm trying to be cute when I say one thing leads to another even when you don't think they connect.

And before anyone asks why I titled this marshmallow fluff when I'm talking about whipped cream...it's got a slight more substance than cream. That and it's sticky. Linkage, connections, sticking things together...that would be my over thinking again.

Till next time

p.s. there's a link to the new facebook in that fluff. 

Random October 2017

I was coming in here to post a photo. Then I changed my mind.

I had just posted to instagram, with a picture I'd done for Hallowe'en. Every so often, I've been doing a countdown for the season. Today the theme was bats.  

Doesn't matter. None of it in fact matters. In fact, it mattered so little that I just took nearly two months off from any kind of socializing online; and the only one's who seemed to notice were the two instagram followers who unsubscribed.  Dude, I really hate the fact that everything I do in life now is subheaded in my mind with "how's that going to look on video?"

I am a dinosaur. I know this, and own up to it very much so. I grew up in an age where not everyone got to be the star attraction, because not everyone had the talent. Now, talent is not required.  Well, that's not completely true now is it? You have to be talented at selling yourself.  You have to be able to wiz around the twitter and whatever else is the tool of power and hold that crown of fate in a bare handed white knuckle grip of fearless determination while hoping the fake modesty rings true enough.  

I can't do any of that.

I'm just a 43 year old woman who doesn't fit. Hell, I no longer even fit in my own dress.  There is a running theme in a lot of vampire stories, that points out how the vampires get stuck in the era that they became vampires; and how they need to constantly have something/someone new to keep them remotely in touch with modern living. That's a cliche for a reason. This dinosaur has hit that cliched wall. 

I don't get society in 2017. Lest not beyond the idea that we have become nothing but whip cream. I hate whip cream.

Countdown says : 16 Days till Hallowe'en 2017

Still the Ghoul Next Door; Dude

Spudguns!  I've got to make it a habit to start blogging on here again. One of the reasons I've been doing stuff on youtube the way I have, was to be able to add it here. And my laziness has gotten me sidetracked big time.

Anyone else not happy with the latest goings on with Twin Peaks? Seriously, we waited over twenty five years for it, and it's just...right...you're getting me aren't you? No, you all dig it totally and I'm the only one who is disappointed by the new season of it.

Sure, take the side of the famous tv show and not the ghoul.

Here's what I had to say a few weeks ago on my youtube.

March 29th 2017

Spudguns!  Hows it wherever it is you are today?  It's 11:42am EST where I am, and it's holding steady at +1C with a windchill of -5C.  Now that that's out of the way...

I've got a few new videos up on my youtube channel. Some of them are movie related, some food, and some occult/tarot.  As you know my lovely Spudguns! the major aspects of my life.  But, I'm now toying with the idea of sectioning off the movie/cooking stuff - which is what my movie blog is all about - by going full on horror hostess. Like, costume. Or the very lest, one outfit I use just for those vids. That way, the "spiritual" stuff isn't...yeah sounds like too much work and needless pomp to me too.  I've done the costume and wig in the past more than once, and though it makes it more suitable, it's been done to death.

So what do you think...should I?

I was going to add the next episode of the one show here with a tarot video, but damn it, I'm too lazy. So here's the link to my youtube if you want to see what I'm blubbering on about  (Ardeth Blood the Ghoul Next Door)    If you think I need to Elvira it up, then leave me a comment on there please. And if you haven't subscribed to me on there, please do. I need to feel loved and desired.

I have to admit, after two years of having the channel, today I saw I finally have a category. I was very excited. When I logged in to it this morning, I found there were a couple of other youtubers listed in my "related channels".  Yay me! And it only took two years for it to happen. Who said success isnt' sweet served frozen.

Honestly, I don't remember it being this difficult to translate my written wittiness and hyperactive humour into physical performance before.

Anyways, till later...Creeping Screams!

March 2017 6th

Oh my gremlins!  I have been having one of those...yeah.  Well, my lovely Spudguns! I've been meaning to come in and do this post for like a month. I just haven't found the time, which is zero excuse I know.

We are now in the Venus retrograde which started on March 4th and runs until April 15th.  This means, that all relationships and money...yes money as Venus is the planet of wealth and abundance; will be effected during this time. And trust me, the last few hours of my life proves that.

For those of you that have been reading my movie blog, you know I had started hosting an all vampire movie and book club last year called Night Bleeds. You might also know that I have my "what that movie inspired me to do" series of posts. Lots of times, I'll do the "inspired by" stuff along with the book/movie club. Well, I decided to take this one step farther, and have begun doing some of them as videos for my youtube channel.

Here's episode one.

2017 planetary stuff

Spudguns!  I know I haven't been in here on this bloggy-blog in a while. Life happens. Anyways, here's the list for this year's retrogrades.  

Mercury retro- Dec 19th 2016 until direct Jan 8th 2017,   now, this is the one we are currently in. As I've said before, Mercury retrogrades tend to screw with computers, travel, communications, cars, and accidents.   There is one on April 9th until May 3rd, one on Aug 12th until Sept 5th, and one on Dec 3rd until Dec 22nd

Jupiter retro - Feb 6th until June 9th

Venus retro -March 4th until April 15th

Saturn retro- April 6th until Aug 25th

Pluto retro- April 20th until Sept 28th

Neptune retro June 16th until Nov 22nd

Uranus retro Aug 3rd 2017 until Jan 2nd 2018

That's about all I have for you at the moment. Remember, given Mercury is the planet that retros most often, it's the one we have to play nice with the most.