All ten year old girls have a crush on Tim Curry...

My sister and I have a Halloween tradition. Every year we watch our favorite Halloween movie. Not a horror film, not It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown...no, the best Halloween movie ever is The Worst Witch.

It was made for TV in 1986 and stars Fairuza Balk as Mildred Hubble (her first role as a witch, long before she was in The Craft.) It also stars Charlotte Rae in dual roles as the school's headmistress AND her evil twin sister, Tim Curry as The Grand Wizard (who is swooned over by every female in the movie) and Diana Rigg as Miss Hardbroom (the not so nice potions teacher who doesn't like Mildred.)

It's a crazy movie, full of songs, goofy 80s special effects, and just plain wacky situations. In the middle of the movie Tim Curry gets his own music video!


Miss Cackle's "evil" twin sister and her coven of goofy witches are dressed like a five year old's idea of a "bad witch." They also have a song...


It really has to be seen to be appreciated. Or maybe you have to be a child of the 80s to love it as much as I do...you can see for yourself. Someone has kindly posted the whole movie on youtube.

Fishnets, feathers, and rhinestones

A couple of days ago Justin and I rented A Wink and a Smile, a documentary about modern burlesque dancers. I loved it! I've always had a fascination with burlesque and vaudeville (the costumes, the cute routines...) but now I think I love it even more.

In the film, ten everyday women take a burlesque class. I had no idea such a thing existed! Now I'm frantically looking all over, trying to find a local class (or at least somewhere to see a show...) but with no luck. Why must everything awesome be so far away?

I wonder...what kind of burlesque dancer would I be? Probably a silly one, as I have no coordination. But I would have a fabulous costume! Something flapper inspired...with lots of beads and feather!

Caprice trailer

Jack Bennett, the director and co-writer of Caprice, posted a teaser-trailer! The short film is based on one of Justin Cristelli's short horror stories.

CAPRICE Teaser

CAPRICE | MySpace Video

You can read the original story in Justin's book "Caprice and Other Stories," which is available in his lulu.com shop.

I can't believe I actually watched that...

Last night was Bad Movie Night at Fantasmo. Every year, for Fantasmo's anniversary show, we stay up all night watching really bad movies. The audience votes on the movies shown, which means people actually wanted to see some of these. This year's movies were...

Against the Dark - I didn't watch all of this. It stars Steven Seagal as a vampire hunter. I don't think I need to say any more. I watched the last thirty minutes, and this is what it did to me

Justin still looks happy...he was in the lobby for the whole movie.

Chopping Mall - A really fun 80s movie about mall security robots that go on a killing spree when some teenagers are trapped in the mall after hours.

Leprechaun 4: In Space - I had never seen a Leprechaun movie before, and now I know why.

The Thing with Two Heads - Honestly, I slept through a lot of this on.

Sssssss - 70s movie about a doctor who specializes in snakes, who figures out how to turn a human into a snake. He secretly gives his new assistant the serum. Goofy and weird, but I've seen worse.

Squirm - I love this movie! I'm so glad we ended the night on something I know from MST3K. You gonna be da worm face!

So, I got two wisdom teeth pulled yesterday. Justin was off of work, so he came with me (he's such a nice boyfriend!) It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. I think it took longer for my mouth to get numb than it did to pull the teeth.

We went back to my house after the dentist and watched movies all afternoon...Better Off Dead (John Cusack!!) and Soultaker (one of my favorite MST3K episodes) We also saw Let the Right One In, a beautifully creepy Swedish vampire film. I highly recommend it!

I woke up today with my face feeling like a chipmunk...all swollen and puffy, but there's not as much pain as I would have expected. I think it feels better now than it did before I got them pulled...

I still have to eat soft food for a few days. So I'm living on ice cream, mashed potatoes, pudding, yogurt, and anything that doesn't require lots of chewing. This morning I warmed up a strawberry muffin with lots of butter, and it was soft and yummy!

I'm working on some new plushes for my Etsy shop, as well as a couple of custom orders. I'm hoping to have a few things finished and posted by the end of the week. Stay tuned for more updates.

Coraline review

I meant to write this last week when I saw the movie...but time flies...

I've been a huge fan of both Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick for years and years. Selick made two fantastic stop motion animated movies, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Neil Gaiman is quite possibly my favorite author, writing strange, funny, spooky stories for adults and children. When I heard that they were going to be working together, it filled my geeky heart with joy.

I read Coraline soon after it came out and I loved it. It's a creepy adventure...a kids horror story. Henry Selick is the perfect director to bring it to life.

The film is fantastic! The stop motion is beautifully done, and all of the characters and sets are well designed. It follows the book fairly closely. The most major difference is the addition of a character, Wybie Lovat, the grandson of the woman how owns Coraline's house. I didn't mind him so much, since he is actually there for a reason (not just added for nothing) and he has one of my favorite creepy moments in the movie (smile!)

I love that the film makers left in all of the creepy things that I love in the book. Spink and Forcible's dead dogs, the Other Mother's real form, the ghost children, and the way the Other World falls apart as the Other Mother realizes that she's loosing Coraline.

The visuals are amazing. I love the character designs! Coraline has blue hair, which I hadn't pictured on her when I read the book, but suits her...she's a little rebel!

Overall this is a beautiful, creepy, fun movie. I highly recommend seeing it! 5 out of 5

I like buttons

Coraline starts tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas. Mine was pretty sweet!

I got some awesome presents. I got a bunch of books, including the Tori Amos book "Comic Book Tattoo," the first volume of Hellboy, "How to Be an Explorer of the World" by Keri Smith, and the new Neil Gaiman book "The Graveyard Book." My dad got me subscriptions to Juxtapose and Craft magazines, and Amanda Palmer's new CD. Justin got me the Dr. Zoidberg action figure!

My cats love Christmas!



After spending the day with our families, Justin and I went to see "The Spirit." The previews weren't amazing, but I love the character and the recent comic series so I went with an open mind. It was...ok. Not great, but not horrible either. I'm not sure if Frank Miller was the best choice for director (I love his visual style, but he seems to be stuck in film noir) It was a little too goofy and cartoon-ish, and there wasn't much of a plot. I give it a 5 out of 10.

While waiting to see the movie, we wandered around looking at all of the coming attraction displays. I found one for Coraline! I'm really excited about this movie. What could be better than a Neil Gaiman story, with Henry Selick animation and direction?



I'm going to be posting again soon about this past year, and my wishes and hopes for the new year.

Cheers!
Lindsay