Ripping the Fright Fantastique

Channel Description:

Latest Articles in this Channel:

11/29/11--04:31: Article 0 (chan 2192338)

A beautiful love story to brighten your morning! 


12/11/11--18:40: Valhalla, I Am Coming... (chan 2192338)




12/18/11--05:09: Article 5 (chan 2192338)

You know how every once in a while you read a book, hear a song, or watch a movie that you know you'll remember for the rest of your life? This morning I finally got a chance to watch Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Mortality (we all have it), fate (fight it or let it flow?), and what it is to have a soul are just some of the movie's themes. If you get a chance to see this one, do it. Bring a box of kleenex, though.





12/19/11--11:11: YOU GUYZ! (chan 2192338)

I'm getting so many gorgeous amazing excellent cards!
THANK YOU!


12/19/11--16:37: Happy Birthday Capricorn Peeps! (chan 2192338)


For all my goatish frondz and family; mish55, happiestsadist, taniableu, zeitgeistic, watermelancholy, dont_go_joe, freakshownia, fredxmertz. jblaque, naughtydolphin, kindofstillness, filmex2000, and Ismsrbls... have a wonderful solar return and whole new year cycle! May it be filled with dreams and goodness!


12/20/11--05:37: Happy Yule & Merry Holidays (chan 2192338)


Even though this is a bit early, I thought I'd put this up now because the next few days are going to be crazy busy. For my family Yule or Midwinter (Winter Solstice) has always been about victory in battle (life's trials), peace and fertility (harmony and prosperity), and the blood of our ancestors (power and wisdom). 

Whatever Winter Holidays you may celebrate, I wish you all buckets of joy and bliss!


12/21/11--10:23: Article 1 (chan 2192338)


Again, this is going up a few days early. Merry Christ's Mass for those of you who celebrate it! 
We're going to my parents' on Sunday. I was going to cook a white truffle butter turkey, but my mom decided we should have surf and turf. We'll probably make lemon & tarragon potato cups, and roasted B-Sprouts to go with it. Then on New Year's Day we're going back over and I'm making them Posoles Roja and Tamales Verdes. NOM.

In other news tomorrow is my 18 year anniversary. Holy crap I'm old. I wanted to make something special for dinner, but money is tight right now. I was originally thinking Lobster Fra Diavolo, but now I dunno wtf to make. My friend Nancy gave us movie vouchers so husbandman wants to see Dragon Tattoo today. I hope it doesn't trigger the fuck out of me like the original movie did. 

How are y'all doing? Staying stress-free? (I hope?)



12/21/11--16:18: I Come from the Land of Ice & Snow... (chan 2192338)

So we saw Dragon Tattoo. First I want to mention that the opening credits, played to the Immigrant Song were unbelievably stunning. You can watch it here, although it's grainy and way better in person. Second, they changed some shit but in all, it's an incredible film, definitely worth seeing. Third, save me from the fucking DudeBros of the world. I had this guy sitting next to me fucking GIGGLING at all the lascivious bits. Fucking disgusting.

I'm not going to give an in-depth review because I haven't the inclination or the time, suffice to say if you like the trilogy, and you're a fan of one of the best-written female characters of the 20th century, I doubt you'll be too overly bothered with bits that maybe romaticized too much, or over-explained for some of the American audiences that could have a hard time following the plot.  



12/22/11--10:48: Happy Hanukkah (chan 2192338)


Yes, I know it's already day 3! I'm either late with these things or early. Anyway, Happy Hanukkah for those of you who celebrate it!


12/28/11--13:10: Gordon Ramsay's Mac & Cheese (chan 2192338)


* 2 shallots, finely diced
* 1 cup dried macaroni
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* ½ cup chanterelles
* 1 sprig of thyme, leaves remove
* ⅓ cup white wine
* ¾ cup double cream
* 4 egg yolks
* 7 oz stichelton cheese (or other blue cheese)
* ½ cup Parmesan
* Handful chives, finely chopped
* 2 tbsp butter
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
* Olive oil

1. Add the macaroni to a large pan of boiling salted water with the olive oil and cook for 7-10 minutes until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water to remove excess starch. Return to the pan and set aside.
2. Melt the oil in a small frying pan. Add the mushrooms and fry until golden brown, add a small knob of butter and the thyme, cook for another minute then season with pepper. Drain the excess oil from the pan and then add the shallots and cook for a further 2 minutes or until softened, deglaze with the wine, reduce by half and set aside
3. Bring the cream to a gentle boil and add it to the mushrooms, add the egg yolks, chives and parmesan, mix well and crumble in two-thirds of the cheese. Add the macaroni to the cheese sauce and stir until everything is fully incorporated. Heat gently for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Season with pepper.
4. Butter the ovenproof dish, and pour in the mixture. Top with some stichelton and parmesan and transfer to a med oven for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown, remove and leave to stand for 5 minutes or so, then serve.




12/30/11--04:14: Article 2 (chan 2192338)


Meh, all you young hipsters... this video is what it was like back in the day. 80's fans are cool, however for folks who lived it, like myself, it was revolutionary for the times. Anyways, this is one of the best love songs ever done, in any era, in any time.


12/30/11--06:27: Article 1 (chan 2192338)

Please for the love of everything holy, donate to this bb and her puppy.





12/30/11--23:31: Also!?! (chan 2192338)


Hello, 2012!
friending meme with a directory



                                     This right here is pretty nifty! I always <3 a chance to meet new frondz~  


01/11/12--12:26: DEAD (chan 2192338)




01/17/12--10:32: Article 0 (chan 2192338)

In honor of Martin Luther King, I post 2 longish articles that are important:
1. Most of You Have No Idea What Martin Luther King Actually Did
2. A Little MLK Day Food for Thought


01/18/12--12:49: Article 0 (chan 2192338)

My husband's books have been pirated, I get it, but we're still against the SOPA bullshit. This is my response, plus I've also contacted my particular assholes in congress. 


01/23/12--09:59: 農曆新年 & Gung Hay Fat Choi! (chan 2192338)


Happy Year of the Black Dragon! Here's some info about a dragon year. Here's my goat/sheep prediction but you can check yours out too.


01/26/12--04:02: Please guys, just a second of your attention (you'll love it!) (chan 2192338)

Originally posted by germanjj at Please guys, just a second of your attention (you'll love it!)

Dear SPN-Fandom, dear fandoms all over the world,

in the last few hours, something amazing happened, the very reason why internet and fandom is so important.
A fellow fan is in trouble. She has Endometriosis, and basically is going to die if she canet get a surgery. But she has no insurance, which means, no money.
After only a few hours, over on tumblr and spreading to all the other social media sites, her friends collected about 8k already (they're aiming for 30k). My dash is exploding with messages from ALL fandoms, everyone donating 5$ or 10$ or whatever they can afford. Everyone is boosting the signal, offering to write, to draw, to do whatever they can to help.
Please do it too. Whether just spreading the word und donating some money. Let's unite our fandoms and help a girl to survive!

This is what I wrote this morning on my facebook page. By now, the magic didn't vanish, but spread even wider. Our very own Kim Rhodes got in contact with her to tell her about her doctor who treatet her for the same desease. Random Acts is spreading the word and our lovely cast on twitter is retweeting like crazy. Sashi is now up to 21k.

Please, spread the word, my dear flist, and help in any way you can! Thank you!!

here's the tumblr site for the donations: Because we're a family
here's Sashi's tumblr site: Sashi's tumblr
here's the facebook page: Donate for Sashi

you know, even if you don't have money right now or not many people to reblog this to, go take a look at those sites. You're gonna be OVERWHELMED with the amount of love that unites all our fandoms, and our SPN fandom especially! I can promise you I cried and laughed and was reminded all over again, that Family Don't End With Blood.






01/29/12--16:34: Sheer Badassery (chan 2192338)


In his 2012 State of the Union speech, Obama called out insider trading, private corp's campaign funding, obstructionism, and so much more bullshit, is it any wonder that the right-wing, white, republican peeps had their stink eye on him the entire time, refusing to clap let alone stand up for him or the success of our country?


Also, I want to talk about this bullshit right here. Can I just ask when there has ever been such blatant photographic evidence of racist republican hatred? When has any other white POTUS had to put with someone wagging their finger in his face? I'm pretty sure Lazarus needs to choke some folks.


02/05/12--17:18: Repost: Drop the Charges Against CeCe McDonald (chan 2192338)

Originally posted by zeitgeistic at Repost: Drop the Charges Against CeCe McDonald

-activism- filter
I came across this today and I was really appalled by it. It has SO FEW signatures. If you are at all moved by this, please take a moment to click a few buttons for CeCe McDonald, who's facing some truly heinous and despicable things in her life right now...and murder charges on top of it.


FREE CECE: We're Looking at You, Michael Freeman: Drop the Charges Against CeCe McDonald
Last summer, CeCe McDonald, a young African American transgender woman, was violently attacked in the heart of South Minneapolis. As she and several friends, also African American and queer or allied, were walking to the grocery store, a group of white adults standing outside of a bar started shouting racist and transphobic insults at them, calling the youth "f*****s," "n*****s," and "chicks with dicks".

Tragically, the violence did not stop there- one of the white adults slashed CeCe across the face with a broken bottle, cutting all the way through her cheek, and another of the attackers was fatally stabbed.

Amazingly, in the aftermath of this racist and transphobic attack, the only person facing charges is CeCe McDonald- the victim. Michael Freeman, the Hennepin County Attorney, has charged CeCe with two counts of second degree murder. Because of these charges, she has been unable to recover from the attack and prevented from continuing her studies at the Minneapolis Community Technical College. Considering that County Attorney Michael Freeman has dropped charges in similar situations this year and that he has advocated strongly for programs to keep kids in school, arguing "We all know that when kids miss school they don't learn," why is Michael Freeman ruthlessly going after this young student?

We refuse to allow racism and transphobia, on Minnapolis streets or in Minneapolis courts. We support CeCe. We are waiting for County Attorney Michael Freeman to honor his committment, in his words "to serve all of our citizens with understanding, dignity, and respect" by dropping the charges against CeCe McDonald.

Michael Freeman: Minneapolis says, FREE CECE.

Sign the Petition






02/06/12--10:17: Article 0 (chan 2192338)

1. Rosa Parks did so much more than "sit on a bus." Great article.

2. One of the most gorgeous men alive, Idris Elba talk about racism and Thor. Now think about the Harry Potter fans who've shown their outrage that POC were cast as um, POC in the movies. And how there shouldn't be any POC in any of the Tolkien movies... and... 


3. Ms. Fierce Flawless Goddess Viola Davis thanks you for your time. 

4. I finally broke down and watched Grizzly Man. I have lots of feelings about it that would be too much for this post, but I think I'll muse about it in the next few days. 

5. Jordan Hawes got caught, the fucking fuck. 


02/08/12--09:55: *DEAD* (chan 2192338)



Impossible not to laugh and shake your ass tbh. 


02/08/12--17:05: So, About Timothy Treadwell... (chan 2192338)



Grizzly Man was really emotional for me, which honestly, I didn't expect.
Here's some bullet point thoughts I have about it:
GOOD STUFF


• I know what's it's like to feel that animals have saved your life. When I was an abused little kid, the only friends I had were animals. I SO get it.


• He clearly had some mental health issues. I do too, so that's understood. I think it most likely made him even more compassionate, as mental issues tend to do for many of us. 


• His love for animals is undeniable. I'm an animal nut myself, so personally I can relate x 1000.


• His message about leaving the concrete polluted cities behind, not fitting in, fighting poachers, all lives are important... is to be commended. And I agree 100% with those sentiments. Since Treadwell's death, 6 bears have been poached that we can document, but there's probably 3 x more that we just can't document at this time. 


PROBLEMS

• He habitualized the bears, which as usual, turned out being WAY worse for them than it was for him. IE, they became more trusting and used to humans, who inevitably ended up hurting/killing them when they did nothing more than  "act like bears."


• He was doing this to protect the bears, but even more, to fulfill himself. And guess what? In the end the bears had to pay for the dumb ass human, same old story. (3 bears were shot on sight at his death scene, only one had human remains in it's digestive tract, which doesn't even mean that was the bear that killed him.)


• Does this end up harming bears (and all wild animal causes) more than it helps? Maybe. The cycle of fear and misinformation continues.




So, I guess what I really want to try and say is that I understand about animals saving your life, and then your undying love and loyalty to them, because that's my personal story. I love animals more than most "normal" humans. Treadwell stopped poaching for the years that he Summered with the bears, and that's incredibly commendable, although deadly, as he died for those beliefs. (Just ask Dian Fossey. Oh WAIT.) He knew his work with the bears would probably kill him and he was ok with that. Some folks would call him a zealot, some would just call him really devoted, so I'm not even trying to judge right now.

He didn't take pepper spray let alone a gun with him, because he loved his bears that much. Yes, there was a mental illness, and there was also a fair amount of narcissism as well. Also, it breaks my heart that his girlfriend who was scared of bears to begin with, died right along side of him because she wouldn't abandon him. (I thought about including the link to the transcription of the death audio, and have chosen not to, but if you lj msg me, I'll provide that link for you if you need it.) The fact is, he knew he was going to die doing what he loved, and he chose it anyway.  

There's this series called Fatal Attraction on Animal Planet that is about this very thing. People who keep water monitor lizards and other larger meat-eating reptiles, black mambas and other lethal snakes, wolves, big cats, chimpanzees, etc., and their love for these wild creatues. No matter how much time is spent in captivity, these animals are still wild, and if you make one mistake around them, it will be your last. They will kill you. The problem is that ok, you're dead, but inevitably the authorities come in and kill all the animals you tried to protect and loved. Plus those same animals get further stigmatized and it's just a bad deal all around for everyone involved. PERIOD

I know, it must feel great to have a wolf pack accept you. It must feel great to have a pride of lions accept you. It must feel incredible to have these gorgeous wild, deadly creatures accept you. But maybe they shouldn't. Maybe it's not about you. Maybe they should continue to fear man if nothing else, for their species' own survival.  

Ugh, I dunno, this is getting WAY TOO DAMN LONG and emotional for me. I have so many feelings about this, I get why it's problematic, but I also, get why it could be irresistible for lots of (us) animal lovers. It's heartbreaking any way you slice it. 




02/13/12--09:34: Article 0 (chan 2192338)

Hey! All y'all go bid on my stuff over at con_or_bust  if you have a mind to!

1. Nahualli Oracle
2. Cyber Warefare


02/21/12--11:01: Happy Birthday Pisces Peeps! (chan 2192338)


I always think of the Goddess Sedna when I think of my Pisces friends. Happy Birthday icelore, watersaredeep, tooright, curseangel, gynocide ,pachakuti, we_got_caught,curiositykatetempest_omouthy, vivianstcloud, journieyjanecpbnewroticgirl, (did I miss anyone?) have a wonderful new solar cycle and may this year brings you all kinds of excellent stuff!