Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Category: Nerd Life

  • 18 Days of Blogging

    18 Days of Blogging

    Do you celebrate valentines day?

    Seth and I really don’t. Once I made him a one time only sappy valentine’s love mix cd, back in the days when people still burned cds. (On this cd was: Luckiest by Ben Folds, Lucky Ones by Bif Naked and I’m Gonna Always Love You from Muppets Take Manhattan, among others.) But, since my birthday is exactly a month after valentine’s day we made the decision as a couple to skip it.

    My most memorable valentine’s day was my Freshman year of high school I think. I had been “dating” a friend of mine and he broke up with me as a joke the day before, but I didn’t get that it was a joke. He would tell me that later as well as saying since I took it so seriously he just decided not to correct it. We were still friends, and are still acquaintances online. He is a writer and fairly popular in certain online channels and once he broke up with me by saying “You are on a one-way trip to dumpsville baby, population you.” You can imagine how I was feeling about romance that next day.

    So…I put on a pair of black tights, black platform boots and my favorite Gap t-shirt dress that honestly barely covered my bits and I have no idea how I was allowed to leave the house in it. Oh, and a pair of creme colored lacy butt underwear things so if the skirt rode up all you saw was my ruffly butt. I added super dramatic makeup and dark lipstick. I had my mom take me to Meijer which at the time still had a bulk candy section and I bought 3 pounds of gummy worms. I then walked around on campus at high school all day a gloomy sight in all the valentine’s chaos and I gave out gummy worms. It went over well honestly and I got the attention of even some of the popular people at school with my antics.

    Later in the day I ran into my HUGE high school crush, you know the type I am talking about. I spun for him and asked him how I looked and he said I, “Looked like sex.” Which I then and still take as a compliment.

    There have been many, many valentines in between this one and that one, but that day in 1997 was the peak of valentines greatness for me. Seeing the smiles on peoples faces when I walked toward them with my giant bag of worms wishing them a tolerable day. My whole life may have just been trying to recreate that kind of magic. Thanks to bad break up jokes and my flair for the dramatic.

  • 22 Days of Blogging

    22 Days of Blogging

    So, this is a little late. I had a big paper due this weekend, so I spent all day yesterday working on and refining that. Priorities, lol.

    I am super excited because the other day I received a package in the mail and no it wasn’t more stuff I bought online. Well…it kinda was, but not in the way my last post was talking about. I got my membership package for the Ohio History Connection in the mail. Ohio History Connection is housed in Columbus as the Ohio Historical Center building which houses various museum style exhibits, the Ohio Archives and Library, and The Ohio Village which is a recreated 19th century community where they hold events.

    With my membership I can go to the Ohio History Center for free once it is open to the public. I get reciprocal admissions from over 250 museums nationwide and reciprocal benefits at over 800. Free tickets to Ohio History Center/Ohio Village Events like Night at the Museum, All Hallows’ Eve and Dickens of a Christmas (I have attended the Dickens event and it is really fun). Plus many other amazing benefits.

    More than that, though, I know that I am supporting the preservation of Ohio history during a time when they could use that support more than ever. I am also considering buying a membership to the Columbus Museum of Art for a similar reason. We already purchased a COSI membership for the inlaws and the niblings (I found out this is the non-binary term for nieces and nephews and I love it.) We also still have our zoo memberships which Seth’s parents purchase us for Christmas every year. While we may not get much use out of these this year, we are supporting important pieces of our community.

  • 23 Days of Blogging

    I am still shopping far too much online. It is an issue and also I feel like I am supporting a lot of independent artists by from etsy and personal websites. I have ordered so many stickers, pins, shirts, bath bombs and other amazing things for myself online. Here are some of my favorites from this week. (Seriously this is just what was delivered this week, except the coffin earrings which are from last week I think.)

    Coffin Earrings by Kianayouwanna – These are amazing. You can fill them with anything and wear them. Want Valentine’s Day coffins? Bam. Easter? Bam. How could I resist that? I bought Black Lives Matter pins from Black Cat Insignia. I think it is important to be an ally, and important to support Black Owned businesses while doing so. These pins are super high quality and will live on my two favorite jackets.

    I bought some skate stickers, a patch and some sparkly pink razorblade charms for my skates from ProjectPinup. I am planning to fix up an old rusty skate case I own and I want to cover it in skate related stickers, so I have been buying skate stickers like a crazy person. I also bought a cropped sweatshirt from Blood and Thunder that says social distance skating club. I can’t wait to wear it. I love it so much!!

    I bought myself some witchy stickers for my skate case and for use in my planner. These adorable holiday stickers from Wise Minerva Studio for Imbolc, Ostara and Beltane. A “Support your local witches” sticker from Moonrise Goods Co. Holographic pentacle stickers from pastelspell which are so rainbow shiny they make me so happy.

    I also bought a bunch of bath bombs from my favorite bath bomb company Witch Baby Soap. Honestly I buy from them monthly, but I grabbed a big bunch this month because I was completely out.

    Today in the mail I got a fantastic shirt from the company, Out of Print, as well. They released this amazing shirt featuring the Muppets that I can remember being on the wall of the library in my elementary school or our public library when I was little. I had to have it.

  • 24 Days of Blogging

    24 Days of Blogging

    I have been making collages and mixed media art since I was really young. I have several large collage pieces up around the house. I also use collage work as witchy work making vision boards/ spell boards. One of my old favorite papers to use for batsh#t crazy headlines and photos was Weekly World News.

    Do you remember this ridiculous publication? They gave us Bat Boy (which there is a musical about), so many aliens, every Elvis sighting, and so much more bizarre esoterica. Weekly World News was a print paper that ran from 1979 to 2007(!?) and was the trashiest and most fun of the “tabloids”. And in researching this I also learned they still have an online presence. In it’s peak WWW had a total circulation of 1.2 million readers. As a child and teen I would often pick one up to use in art projects since they cost…well $.70 in 1989 so not very much.

    I was sitting here doing some collage stuff not too long ago and I found myself reminiscing about the Weekly World News as collage fodder. Of course it has not been in print since 2007, but suddenly I had the thought to check on ebay for old issues that I could pull apart for collage work. Much to my delight there were several bundles to choose from so I received 3 issues from June-August of 1989. They are obviously products of their time; several articles are homophobic, fatphobic, xenophobic, etc. which is a little disappointing but not at all shocking. Some of the ridiculous stories though are so off the wall and farfetched that it feels worth it to rip them apart for their bits and pieces. Below are some of the ridiculous headlines, photos and articles.

    Now I just need a big lot of teen magazines from the 80s and 90s. Any leads?

    “Weekly World News.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_World_News.

  • 26 Days of Blogging

    I am a podcast addict…there I said it aloud and that is the first step. The thing is that I have no intention of not listening to podcasts any time soon. I don’t always learn something from Podcasts, but sometimes I do. I am always entertained, and I am almost always happy that I listened even to a podcast that deals with a serious subject. I am going to list some of my absolute favorites here. Some of these are incredibly popular, some are more independent, and some a relatively unknown but they are all among my favorites.

    • The Smartest Man in the World Podcast: This is the podcast that started me on podcasts. Greg Proops (Whose Line) talks about history, politics, art, literature, baseball and whatever takes him. I think of Greg as my unofficial father and sometimes in times of chaos I want his opinion more than anyone else.
    • My Favorite Murder: Karen and Georgia reignited and reaffirmed my love of true crime. I am still an avid murderino and I am so happy for how prolific they have become.
    • I Hate It but I Love It – Kat Angus and Jocelyn Geddie talk about the movies that they both love and hate. Some absolute stand out episodes are The OA (episode 1 and hysterical), Speed Racer, Jupiter Ascending, Super 8 and the cross overs with Talk From Superheroes (another great podcast) Star Wars Episode 2&3. I also support them on Patreon and it is worth every penny. Kat and Jocelyn live in my head in the best way.
    • The Daily Zeitgeist: This is not your parent’s news show. Jack O’Brien (formerly of Cracked) and Miles Gray host this amazing news podcast that happens every work day. The guests are amazing. It is educational but still funny.
    • Behind The Bastards: Robert Evans and guests lay out the stories behind some of the worst people in history. Things like the author of Hitler’s favorite books. He also has made two special events Behind the Police and Behind the Insurrection that are super informative and a tiny bit depressing.
    • Bananas: Kurt and Scotty go over the strangest and funniest stories in the news. It makes me laugh every single time. This podcast is the best palette cleanser in the world.
    • The Pastie Tapes: I make no secret of the fact that I love burlesque. This podcast hosted by the luscious Siomai Moore is interviews, behind the scenes and just generally great insider burlesque and I love it.
    • Scam Goddess: Laci Mosely is hilarious, ridiculously talented and a total scammer. This podcast will definitely make you laugh.
    • Hippie Witch: Joanna talks all things witchy, biz witchy and law of attraction. She is such an absolute force of nature. I support her on Patreon as well.
    • Ologies: Ask smart people dumb questions. Alie Ward is everyone’s pod dad and learning with her is one of the best things in the world. I have gotten so many people to listen to this podcast.

    I also listen to (in not particular order): I Saw What You Did, That’s Messed Up, Crime Junkie, The Murder Squad, Tenfold More Wicked, Skate Date Podcast, Unraveled, The Villain Was Right, Ghosted!, American Shadows, Cabinet of Curiousties, The Bechtel Test, I Said No Gifts, Lady to Lady, True Crime Garage, Cadaver Gals, Teen Creeps, This Might Get Weird, Sinisterhood, Mortified, Lolita, Do You Need a Ride, Talk from Superheroes, All Killa No Filla, Mom’s and Murder, Worst Year Ever, Snap Judgement, The Fall Line, Noble Blood, Lore, Iweigh, The Devil’s Music, Unobscured, Spooked, The Cryptonaturalist, and more.

    I told you I have a problem, lol. Any podcast recommendations?

  • 28 Days of Blogging

    Hello February! In she comes with snow and ice, but that is okay since I barely ever leave the house right now. Imbolc/ Candlemas is upon us to issue in the last bits of Winter before Spring swans in all sun and flowers. If you are so inclined then the Groundhog will determine whether we will have 6 more weeks of Winter. If you are me you are beginning the final countdown to 40 (March 14th) and the anticipation of things to come.

    This month in my personal practice I am using Crow Tarot by MJ Cullinane to do the daily, weekly and monthly readings in the Writual Sacred Planner which I bought in order to use my tarot more, and get to know some of the decks I don’t use as often. This deck was a birthday gift from my sister, Traci, a couple of years ago and while I have used it a couple of times this is the first time I am using it regularly. I love crows so this deck is a huge draw for me, and I have no idea why it has taken me this long to get it out to play with it. The visuals are gorgeous. I included some of my pulls from this morning below just to show off the gorgeous imagery.

    This month I am co-hosting a podcast, having a wenchy meeting, with luck doing some roller skating, crafting a bit, writing a lot, undertaking a vintage skate case rehab and generally getting things done while mostly staying at home. I am also going to blog every day for the next 28 days because I can.

  • Magic Crabs and Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls

    Magic Crabs and Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls

    My friend, Jenny, has a podcast with her friend Jean-Paul called WTF Did I Just Watch on Zombie Take Over T.V. A couple of weeks ago she sent me a message asking if I would be interested in doing a guest spot on the podcast to talk about the 1999 Rom-Com Simply Irresistible starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Yeah, Buffy!!) and Sean Patrick Flanery (Boondock Saints and Powder…hmm…). I, of course, said yes and we began to make plans to record a podcast talking about this truly bizarre movie. We will be recording February 12 and it should be a fun conversation if you are interested.

    A couple of days after this I got another message from Jenny sent to myself and a couple other women asking if we would be interested in co-hosting a new podcast where we would talk about classic horror movies from the silent age through the 70s. Myself and Rebecca immediately said we would so we began to plot and plan. The result is Girls, Ghosts, Ghouls found for subscription here. We will be talking all things classical spooky like Vincent Price, Universal Horror, Silent Horror, modern remakes, and so much more. We are planning to record monthly and our first episode will be recorded in mid-March. We will also be holding a getting to know you Q&A February 13th on Facebook Live.

    I am very excited about this and what else might be coming in the next several months. If any of this sounds interesting to you please check us out.

  • Buffy, Vampires and Me.

    Buffy, Vampires and Me.

    January 19th was the 40th birthday of Buffy Sommers, the titular heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was someone who was an on and off Buffy watcher when it was on, because sometimes I had plays and such that made it so I couldn’t watch and this was before watch later options (I am that old.) But I watched when I could and even occassionally had a watchalong with my friend where we would talk on the phone (picture a 90s cordless phone) and discuss the action as it was taking place. As an adult I went back and binged the full series, and I am thinking of doing it again.

    Buffy and I are the same age (She was a couple of months older than me but born the same year) and it made it so I could relate to so much of the chaos and growing up Buffy had to experience outside of being the Slayer. Buffy was endlessly relatable. When she had problems with school/life balance, wasn’t sure what she wanted to be when she grew up, had to take on a shitty job to make it through, ended up growing up traumatically with the death of her mother, had a little sister appear out of nowhere, and lost her virginity to a literal monster.

    I was one of those girls who immediately fell in love with Rupert Giles instead of one of the more logical teenage boys or you know Angel who was teenage boy adjacent (until Oz hit the scene OMG I love Seth Green). Now, when Spike hit the scene my Billy Idol loving ass immediately was like oh, that too. Please world give me a punk British librarian. (Is there a character like this? If so please let me know. Male or Female…or non-binary.)

    I still sometimes look to the energy of Buffy for strength and the courage to do what is right. I recently ordered myself some stickers from etsy to make my own Buffy prayer candle because the news of her birthday really made me think of all the things I learned from her. How to walk through the fire. How beer is good. How to save the mother f#cking world.

  • To NANOWRIMO or not to NANOWRIMO…

    To NANOWRIMO or not to NANOWRIMO…

    I am currently trying to decide if I even want to try NANOWRIMO this year, or if I should give this year a pass since I have so much going on. I started a new job on Monday, so I am going to be working on learning my new function and getting it down. I am also still working on my Master’s and will be finishing up my poetry class to begin a Lit class on Shakespeare. I am definitely leaning toward giving it a pass this year

    But…there is a part of me that keeps thinking “Writers Write” so I should at least try, and just make my goal something more attainable with my current schedule. Like maybe write something everyday; this can be a poem, paper, blogpost, whatever as long as I sit down and write once a day. That seems like an achievable goal that sets a challenge but not one that will overwhelm.

    Are you doing NANOWRIMO? What writing goals do you have?

  • The Craft…The Witch Movie That Changed My Life

    The Craft…The Witch Movie That Changed My Life

    In 1996 when The Craft hit theatres I went to see it with my friend Jerid, and we were afraid we were going to be id’ed because we were not 18 (We were both 15) and it was rated R. It released toward the end of the school year my Freshman year of high school, and by Fall and school starting I was wearing short tartan skirts with chunky shoes and I had bought by first “witchy” book and a copy of The Witches’ Almanac. I would begin calling myself a Wiccan that year, which I later ammended to Eclectic Cottage Witch.

    The Craft, which was the story of a group of young women finding their power through witchcraft, and inevitably finding it is not what they thought. With great power comes great responsibility and all that jazz. It also came with a great friendship for a time. I wanted to be one of those girls: beautiful, powerful and just a little fucked up, lol.

    Strange Halloween tribute to The Craft featuring my Funko Pops made to filter out a messy background, lol.

    This movie shaped little Betsy in a way that I could not begin to explain. I wish I had good pictures of me during this time, but cell phones weren’t a thing yet and we almost never carried cameras. I know I was cute as hell.

    I know a sequel to The Craft is set to come out this year, and I am going into it with trepidation and maybe a little hope. I am loving some of the obvious nods to the original film, and I am interested to see how they work Nancy Downs into it based on the trailer.

    I love this film with the passion of a 15 year old girl who snuck in to a film about other teen girls coming into their power. That is some powerful shit right there. And honestly I would still dress like that if given the option.

    Is there a movie that just hit at the right time for you? What was it?

    I drink of my sisters and take into myself…