Music: Diary of Dreams

I thought I'd start the Friday-before-a-long-weekend with one of my favorite bands!

Diary of Dreams is a darkwave band based in Germany.  This group is so awesome, both visually and musically, that if I ever had the opportunity to meet them, I would probably embarrass myself by drooling on their shoes in ecstasy...  (Un)fortunately, they apparently don't tour outside of Europe, so their shoes are probably safe, as is my dignity.

Here are theYouTube links to my three favorite songs.  Be sure to watch at least the 'Soul Stripper' video so you can see what a nice helping of eye candy they are!!  Here's a picture, although they look much better in the videos...



Darker

Soul Stripper

The Wedding

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

In Memorium: Shadow, 2000-2013

This post is to honor our beloved Shadow, the oldest cat and alpha female of our 'herd', who departed this life on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at the ripe old age of 13 years.

In 2000, the same year Martin and I got married, we kept being accosted in the parking lot by a small reddish brown kitten with no tail who shot out from under parked cars and yelled at us to feed her.  After feeding her several times, we decided she was too cute to stay out there and offered her a home, which she graciously accepted.  Her two favorite activities while growing up were to jump on a kitchen chair and swat at all the tails as the other cats came in to breakfast, and to ride on Martin's shoulder.

Since then, she has been the undisputed queen of the herd, keeping order with steel claws wrapped in a velvet glove.  The last two years, however, have been very hard on her, and we finally took her to the vet tonight because her quality of life had gotten so low.  We found that she had developed hyperthyroidism, which prevented her from gaining any weight no matter how much she ate, so that she was literally nothing but skin and bones.  It had spread to the point that it had affected her heart, and we were told that the kindest thing to do would be to let her go.  So tonight we watched her depart for the Summerlands, or the Rainbow Bridge, or Heaven, or wherever it is that cats go when one of their nine lives reaches its end.  She will soon be buried on the hill in the local regional park where all our fur family members are buried together.

Shadow, we love you; may Bast and Sekhmet guide you to the Field of Reeds, and may you be united again with your loving Rocket!

Happy World Goth Day!

I was hoping to do something fun today (like dress VERY GAWTH for work), but since I ended up staying home sick, so much for that.  Instead, I'm just going to wish everyone a wonderful day!




And here's a fun one as well:


 

ALWAYS...  ;-)

My Renaissance Faire Wedding

I have been asked to do a post with pictures of my Renaissance Faire wedding for those who are interested in alternative weddings.  Needless, to say, I agreed...  :-)

NOTE:  Martin and I met for the second time at a Renn faire, and I joined the reinactment guild he belonged to, so some of what we had and were able to do was the result of working with our fellow guild members and other friends involved in faire.  Those not belonging to a guild or faire group might not be so lucky.

Our wedding took place at the Valhalla Renaissance Faire at Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe, CA.  We were able to rent the main staging area for the ceremony for only $300.  The wedding itself was open to any paying guest at the Faire; the private reception (by invitation only) was held inside our guild's encampment area, so it was basically free.

This was our altar, center stage.  Just a foldable camp table, but very sturdy and big enough without being too big.  Yes, that's a dragon behind it...  (Note: If you have an outdoor ceremony, make sure the flower arrangements are NOT top-heavy!!  Otherwise, they tend to get blown over if there's a stiff breeze...)

We entered under a canopy of (fake) flowers, complete with retinue and musicians.  We had NO idea who many of the people there were, as they were paying guests at the faire, but who cared??  (The boy's head in the bottom right corner belongs to my son, brag, brag!)

Here we are during the actual ceremony; one of our friends not only made the pillows for us to kneel on, she wove the cloth to make the pillows with!

After the ceremony was over, we had a lovely archway of swords to make our exit through...

Our cake was gorgeous and tasty, with real flowers and a glass castle topper.

 

And now, closeups of our outfits:

 

 

I tried to include general things that are in most weddings; if you are interested in getting more specific details, e-mail me and I'll be glad to give you any info I can!

The Incredible Victorian Trading Company

Another catalog from Victorian Trading Company has arrived in the mail.  I LOOOOVE their catalogs!!  Not because I'm a Victorian goth (I'm not), and not because I buy lots of stuff from them (I can't afford most of it).  I love them because they are such a lovely fantasy for me.  Here are a few things that are on my current "wish list":

I ADORE this dress!!  Not sure if the geranium red color would flatter me, but I'd love the chance to see for myself!

I think this would be an awesome hat to wear to... well, many things.  And it's actually not too expensive.  Unfortunately, I just read in this post by Professor Z that this hat is of rather poor quality and fit.  Perhaps I could make my own version of it, hmmmmm...

The Tea Party hat comes in two colors, and I love BOTH of them!  Decisions, decisions...





Here are a few items I've bought from VTC, and my opinions of them on a scale of 1 to 5:

Cinnamon Apple Dipped Candles - They look and smell great... until you burn them.  Unfortunately, they don't smell at all while they're burning, they burn very unevenly with glops suddenly falling off, and the glitter on them makes lots of sparks, so you really don't DARE leave them unattended.  1/5  :-(

Black Battenberg Lace Parasol - I LOVE this parasol!  It keeps The Evil Sun away extremely well, while making you look lovely and elegant in the process.  Also comes in white.  5/5  :-D

Flocked Organza Candy Bags - These are 7" high, perfect to store not only candy, but also jewelry or tarot decks!  You get a set of three in the colors pictured.  I LOVE these wonderful bags, and plan to get more as needed.  5/5  :-)

What's YOUR favorite fantasy store or catalog?  I'd love to add to my collection of wishes!

Nosferatu vs. The Crow

No, this post is NOT about one of those weird "Godzilla vs. Bambi"-type fantasies!  I saw both 'Nosferatu' and 'The Crow' recently, and wanted to comment about them, but just couldn't resist the bizarre post title. 

'Nosferatu'

Made in 1922, 'Nosferatu' is an honest-to-goodness silent movie.  I'd never seen one before, so I found it fascinating for that alone.  The acting seems overdone and strange because they have to mime everything and make it 'bigger' since there is no dialog.  Some of the 'special effects' made me giggle, especially the way Nosferatu was made to glide around the castle as if he were on rollers (he probably WAS).  But considering how limited their ability to do special effects was back then compared to now, I think they did a pretty good job!

Most of the movie follows the story of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, very closely, so I'm assuming that's where they got the main storyline; the last part, however, is very different, and I honestly prefer it to Dracula's ending, which I found to be rather a fizzly letdown.  It's a little long, and does drag a bit in spots, but overall I found it to be fun and worth watching.

You can watch the full-length (1hour 32 mins) restored version of 'Nosferatu" here on YouTube.  Enjoy!

'The Crow'

What can I say about this movie that wouldn't sound totally inadequate?  It's not the most incredible film ever made, but I totally understand why it became a goth cult classic.  A rock star who comes back from the dead (and NOT as a ghost) to avenge the murders of himself and his fiancee by scumbag druglords makes a powerful hero.  My personal sense of justice gloried in his actions, and I loved it even more when he took the time to thank the police officer who had tried to solve the murders, and to help a mother and daughter get their lives and relationship back together.  His tearjerking return to his dead fiancee reminded me very much of the ending in the film 'Gladiator'.  In fact, I'm wondering if 'Gladiator' was actually based on this movie, since it was made in 2000, seven years after 'The Crow', but follows the plotline very closely.  The only thing about this movie I didn't care for was the language, but that's a personal thing, and it's probably very accurate, considering that most of the characters are criminals and lowlife.

You can watch 'The Crow' on YouTube, but it's divided into several parts (around ten, I think).  Rather than fuss with that, I recommend just renting/buying the DVD.

Have you seen either of these films?  What did you think of them?

Black Summer Shoes? Yes!!

Okay, it's summer (ick!), and The Evil Sun is going to be all over us.  But that doesn't mean we can't have cute gothy shoes and sandals as we cower under our sunscreen and parasols!  ;-)

Here is some great summer footwear from Payless Shoe Source, where I get a LOT of my shoes:

Brash Royalty Studded Flat Sling - $26.99




Brash Lady Vamp Sandal - $29.99




Lucca Ornament Sandal - On Sale $19.99 (Regularly $26.99)
(Comfort Plus by Predictions, also comes in wide widths)



Montego Bay Club Pepper Embellished Flip Flop
On Sale $19.99 (Regularly $24.99)




There's lots more, of course, but these are my personal picks.  In fact, I picked up the studded sandals at the mall on Sunday!  Only two pairs left, and ONE of them was my size!  How cool is that??  ;-)

Where do you find YOUR favorite shoes??