"The Thing" Trailer

"Hugo" Trailer

these are dark times, there is no denying & W1L 022: Write one leaf about your back yard.

I love this outfit.

Maybe it's the combination of feeling both lacquered and grimy.
Maybe it's the combination of an adequately long skirt and the stomping boots.
Maybe it's the Harry Potter t-shirt.
Maybe it's because all the dark colors tap into my high fashion roots at Hot Topic.
Maybe she's born with it.
Maybe it's Maybelline.

Jacket: H&M, mother's. Cardigan: Forever21. Ron Weasley t-shirt: gift. Skirt: secondhand, gift. Tights: generic. Boots: Steven by Steve Madden. Complete and unabashed glee: sartorial success.

(I've lost track of how many times I've used the Maybelline tagline on this blog. I am just a one-trick Sam who is not sponsored by Maybelline.)

I write stuff after the jump.

Blogging Women "Featured Blogs" Contest - August 2011

OK ladies, it's that time again. Do you want to have your blog listed in the "Featured Blogs" section on Blogging Women? Do you want further promotion for your blog? Well, here's your chance...To Be Eligible to Claim Your Spot:Your blog must already appear on Blogging Women.You MUST have a text link or graphic link back to Blogging Women listed on your blog and it MUST remain their for the entire

12 July 11

Cookoff day! It was BBQ-themed and it was amazing. I made sweet balsamic glazed peaches with vegan crème fraîche, lemon, and sage. Pictured above is Laryssa's entry: fruit, onion, garlic and seitan in homemade barbecue sauce with cornflake crumbs. It was such a great evening, the skies cleared up and we sat out in Nina's beautiful backyard drinking sangria until it got dark and rainy.
I highly encourage all of you to click the link to the cookoff blog and check out the other entries and photos, and see who won!

Pregnancy diary from the real world

Blog Name: Pregnancy diary from the real worldCategory: Family / Parenting, Personal,Owner: SarahDescription: My diary will be giving an honest real story of my second pregnancy. I was shocked by how little the books and Drs really DON"T tell you. Join me for the highs and the lows of this 9 month adventure. Blog URL: http://pregnancytherealstory.blogspot.comFeed URL: http://

Movie Review: Blade (1998)

Blade, the human-vampire hybrid, has been leading the war on the denizens of the night for years. Now, as a power-hungry vampire seeks to escalate the war, Blade may be all that stands between humanity and devastation.

Most of us are taught from a young age that first impressions are everything. If that's the case, then Blade definitely delivers. I don't know what it is about the opening club scene- the trippiness, the impossible red of the blood-doused skin, or something else- but it hooks me every time I watch it.

Blade is the definitive action antihero - he's unstoppable, he's got an attitude, and he's not exactly the sociable type. If nothing more, that makes for an entertaining movie. Now, if only he would just work with the vampires.

Like any good action movie Blade has plenty of comic relief, even if it is a bit piecemeal. You've got Quinn, the biker-enforcer type guy that makes you wonder what the brain capacity requirements for second in command of evil are. You've got The Pearl, whose alter ego seems to be The Worst Liar Ever. You've got lines like the first one Blade delivers, which only differ from the art of Samuel L. Jackson by a fraction of a hair. And, of course, you've got the twenty or so incarnations of "I'm gonna rip your head off", all of which end with Blade hitting them almost before the threat is over.

Being an action-horror-comic movie, Blade has some decent gore. Unlike many traditional vampire images, where there is nothing visible after a bite but a quiet slit on the neck, there's blood all over the place here. It splashes all over the vampires face, the victims' shoulder, and generally a whole lot more bestial. Most of the gore and effects are surprisingly realistic.

The exploding heads, etc., particularly Frost, are probably the worst effects in the movie. The first head cleans itself up nicely with a splash of good, dark blood. Frost, on the other hand, is preceded by a bunch of ugly CGI blood and ends with more of the same.

The movie's not perfect, if I've been giving you that impression. There are a few loose ends, failed morals, etc. as well. I had to go into the Special Features to figure out why Quinn was so much harder to kill than the other vampires. I still don't get why everybody was after Blade in the hospital, despite the fact that he was attacking a 'corpse' who had just killed a doctor in plain site of everyone. I have yet to discover if Blade eats beyond his serum. Finally, the one obvious attempt at dealing with racism (even going so far as to use the title 'Uncle Tom') ended itself immediately when the same person who said "do you think the humans will ever accept you?" referred to humanity as "cattle".

One part of the plot that should have been done without is the return of Blade's mother. Really, there was no need for her. None at all. Except, of course, for the immense sexual tension between mother and son to lead up to the most sexual scene in the movie: the orgasm caused by the longest blood drinking ever.

All in all, Blade's pretty good if you like action movies. It's a little too much of an action movie, invoking such cliches as declaring Blade "the chosen one", but it's entertaining, has some good gore, and has some well-acted characters.