Halloween, my favorite season!

Hello, my pretties! Would you believe it's already the start of the holiday season? Well, no, not that holiday season. It's my favorite holiday season: Halloween.

October's the month where my DVR is blowing up with recorded horror movies that I've seen a million times, causing me to giggle in anticipation of watching them again. And again. It's the month that I've impatiently waited for since the end of last season's The Walking Dead. It's the time when I try to convince just one of my friends to accompany me to a fright fest of some kind. My best memory of one of these jaunts was when I took my friend Isabella to Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights. When she couldn't take it anymore she stopped in her tracks and literally sat on the ground in a fetal position, begging the ghouls to leave her alone. Good times.

This year, however, may actually top my list of Halloween festivities. I will be attending the October 4th evening event hosted by Dearly Departed Tours in Hollywood. Does anyone recognize the building in the photo above? If you do, are you excited for me, jealous of me, or both? The photo is of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office on Mission Road. AND I GET TO GO ON A TOUR!

Promoted as a "bare bones" tour of the facility, the evening will begin with a bar set-up in the hospital building with the promise of spirits (see what I did there?) accompanied by revolting finger foods. Why am I imagining something like this?

One can only hope!

More nail-biting will ensue when author Mark Masek (Hollywood Remains To Be Seen: A Guide To The Movie Stars' Final Homes) tells us the history of the Coroner's facility, followed by a tour of the service floor by Chief Craig Harvey.

There are many other exciting activities during the 2013 Dearly Departed Weekend, including dinner in a mausoleum on Saturday night (I didn't feel as compelled to be a part of that since I've already dined in the crypt at St. Martins in the Field). If any of you want to partake in the fun, you can find all of the information at www.ddtweekend.com.

Hope to see you there!
L

American Horror Story is coming soon!

I have to say I'm very intrigued by the beautiful promotional campaign for season 3 of American Horror Story. Unfortunately, I don't have much faith that I will be able to endure watching the entire season. Were there others of you out there that were extremely excited about seasons 1 and 2, only to lose interest halfway through? I understand that this is typical of Ryan Murphy's projects, but I wouldn't know since I wouldn't be caught dead watching Glee.

Zombie Love

Well, kids, I finally went to see World War Z. I wasn't sure what to expect since I purposely didn't read any of the reviews and only saw one of the trailers. It didn't help that as I was leaving for the theater, one person told me it was "really good" and another person told me it wasn't. But then again, that's exactly why I don't read movie reviews nor talk to people about a movie prior to seeing it. I don't want to be biased when I arrive at the theater, not to mention that I want to come to my own conclusion. So if you're like me, and if you haven't yet seen the film, don't read any further.

For those of you who are still reading, I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. It felt like a global version of The Walking Dead with fast (fast!) zombies. I have to believe that the author of the novel, Max Brooks, has read The Walking Dead comics. Too many similarities to be coincidence. Still, I thought the plot was original enough to hold the audience's interest. I personally haven't read the book so I don't know what's different in the movie, but I really liked the cinematography and special effects. The quick cuts that the editor uses in the first chaotic sequence shows everyone running, including the zombies, so the audience has a hard time distinguishing who's human and who's not. I think this is genius because that's how the zombie apocalypse is going to be: a sea of confusion and panic. Yes, I said, "going to be." Come on. We all know that it's coming - the question is: When?

I also liked the disjointed way in which these zombies moved. Very disturbing. And to see the global scale of the apocalypse, thanks to Marc Forster (director) using a lot of aerial shots for the final addition of the computer graphics, was intense and fun. In fact, for this movie being as intense as it was, I was completely surprised that it lacked the gore that we're used to seeing in a zombie-related story. There were no shots of people's necks being torn away like taffy, there was no blood spurting from jugulars, nor did we see any zombie heads being smashed in. Yet, I was still left clutching my seat while I went along for the ride.

Okay, it's time for the jumpers. I actually counted the number of times the film made us jump out of our seats: three. I sat between two of my friends who aren't as "comfortable" watching horror films as I am and I have to say that may have been the most entertaining part of the evening. The friend to the left of me was already jumping during the trailers that played before the feature! Awesome! And there was one point during the film where the three of us jumped in unison. That made me smile from ear-to-ear.

Thank you, World War Z for a fun ride and for my newly discovered form of protection against zombies. When the apocalypse finally happens, I'll be sure to wrap Vogue magazines around my arms with duct tape. Genius. Pure genius.

Until next time,
L

Cremation Canisters as photographed by David Maisel

Beautiful and unique. That's all I can say about David Maisel's photography of these abandoned canisters from the Oregon State Insane Asylum. No, wait. There is one more word I can say in reference to this exquisite collection of photos: Jealous. As a photographer myself, I'm always looking to capture vivid images of extraordinary subject matter (and the creepier the better!). So for Maisel to have the opportunity to photograph these unclaimed canisters, holding the cremated remains of the deceased, well...yes, "jealous" may be the most appropriate word I could use.

I love the way that the minerals, contained in the copper canisters over the decades, have created phosphorous on many of the cans. That, in combination with the oxidation of the copper itself, has turned something tragic (imagine no one claiming your remains) into something captivating - so much so that I'm willing to bet many people would pay good money to have several of these pieces in their homes. I know I would.

Maisel calls this collection of work "Library of Dust." As he explains on his website (www.davidmaisel.com), "On my first visit to the hospital, I am escorted to a decaying outbuilding, where a dusty room lined with simple pine shelves is lined three-deep with thousands of copper canisters. Prisoners from the local penitentiary are brought in to clean the adjacent hallway, crematorium, and autopsy room. A young male prisoner in a blue uniform, with his feet planted firmly outside the doorway, leans his upper body into the room, scans the cremated remains, and whispers in a low tone, "The library of dust." The title and thematic structure of the project result from this encounter."

There were, at one time, thousands of these copper canisters contained in the "Library of Dust." Each lid is stamped with a number - the lowest being 01 and the highest being 5,118. How tragic. And yet how fortunate we are to have discovered what happened to these remains as they deteriorated over the years thanks to the talents of David Maisel. Please check out the entire story and the entire collection of Maisel's photos at his website: www.davidmaisel.com

Until next time,
L

Feather Emerges from Baby's Neck

I'll let the following link say it all. Enjoy!

http://news.yahoo.com/two-inch-feather-emerges-babys-neck-212722115--abc-news-topstories.html?fb_action_ids=10151591025129593&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151591025129593%22%3A117606135071336%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151591025129593%22%3A%22news.reads%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Shadow People: A True Story

According to Wikipedia, a shadow person is a type of hallucination seen out of one's peripheral vision making it seem as if it were a living, humanoid figure.

Bullshit.

I've seen shadow people and they weren't hallucinations out of the corner of my eye. When I was a child I would often see shadow people walking across my bedroom - passing right in front of my eyes. Other times I would lay in bed and see a black mist in the corner of my bedroom ceiling (I'm still not sure what this was). These occurrences never frightened me because they were such a normal part of my childhood. As the years passed I saw them less and less, possibly due to my mind being less open and less childlike or perhaps simply because I was moved into a different bedroom of our home.

Some people believe that shadow people, whether greyish-white and seen in the dark, or blackish and seen in broad daylight (as was my case), are inter-dimensional beings that have found a way into our world. Others think that they are ghosts who cannot fully manifest themselves into a full-bodied apparition. If so, I find it interesting that I've never seen, read, nor heard stories of shadow people interacting with the living; I've always heard stories recounted as these beings "passing through." My experience was the same: the soft, black entities walking from one bedroom wall to the other and disappearing. Never a nod, never a glance, as the four or five of them would cross my path.

There's also speculation that shadow people are demonic since folklore tells us that the devil is a dark force that will appear in a black form. Again, though, I don't remember hearing accounts of people feeling threatened in any way by shadow people, so I can't say I believe the correlation to the devil.

I also don't agree with those who believe shadow people are alien creatures. This theory actually makes me laugh since I don't believe in alien lifeforms. What? Little Miss Paranormal doesn't believe in aliens? Nope. 'Nuff said.

I'm sure there will be more theories on shadow people in the future (I think there's a shadow people movie being released soon?), but for now I don't know how to explain what I saw during my early childhood. All I know is that all these years later I can still vividly recall their appearance and my experience with them.

If you have any experiences with shadow people, I would appreciate you leaving a comment.

Until next time,
L

It's my birthday (again?!)

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's already been a year since I spent my birthday in haunted Edinburgh! So much has happened during the past twelve months: missing Scotland (of course), going to Japan and getting lost in the largest cemetery in the country, getting back to my singing, taking more photos and improving my photography skills, working out with a personal trainer, having to take a pay cut at work... Ha! All in all it has been a great year and I hope to be better with my blog entries.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and stays safe from those scary fires that are burning around the city!

Until next time,
L