Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: Recovering Former Goth

  • 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.

  • Macabre crush – Vincent Price

    Macabre crush – Vincent Price

    I was two when Thriller by Michael Jackson was released. My older sister, Krystie, knew the song terrified little baby me, so she would play it on a loop to keep me out of our shared bedroom. I never knew what it was that scared me so much until I was older and realized that it was Vincent Price’s voiceover.

    So…you would think a child who was terrorized by his voice might have grown up to resent the man, but on the contrary I grew up as a great lover of Vincent Price. From his appearances on The Muppet Show to his amazing dark films he is beautiful to me. I have a large pin of him on my Leather Jacket, and honestly I am watching a A Comedy of Terrors as I type this.

    Some of my favorite Vincent Price performances are the Edgar Allan Poe based movies from the 50s-60s (House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, etc.), The Last Man on Earth, and The House on Haunted Hill. I also love the narration he did for the Tim Burton short “Vincent.”

    Do you have any strange/macabre crushes? I have a lot honestly.

  • Interview with the Vampire… Obsessed Girl

    I have been fascinated with the idea of vampires since I was an itty bitty weird girl checking out books on the supernatural and mythology from my elementary school library. Beautiful immortal beings who feed on blood, what’s not to love? I loved to read about the mythologies that lead to the idea, the legends and especially the amazing fiction about vampires that are available for teens and adults who love them. Here are some of my favorite books, or at least some of the most memorable to me.

    The Silver Kiss – Annette Curtis Klause: I remember reading this at 10 or so and loving it. I have read it again as an adult and it is still pretty good. It features a vampire child, which is super creepy, and a lightly goth over tone. The ending made me cry.

    Lost Souls – Poppy Z Brite: An interesting book that presents a very different idea of how vampires are created.

    Interview with the Vampire/ The Vampire Chronicles – Anne Rice: She rewrote the genre. Lestat is pure wickedness. I once used a monologue from Queen of the Damned for an audition piece.

    Dracula – Bram Stoker: The original. Renfield is the creepiest. Lucy is heartbreaking. And Mina is a goth girls dream.

    The Hollows/ Rachel Morgan books – Kim Harrison: Rachel is a witch and a bad ass. Her roomate Ivy is a Vampire. They live in a church. Chaos ensues.

    That is what I can think of off the top of my head. Do you have a favorite vampire book?

  • Elvira, A Love Letter to the Mistress of the Dark.

    Elvira, A Love Letter to the Mistress of the Dark.

    Elvira,

    I do not, in fact, remember the first time I ever saw you. I suspect it was watching the movie Elvira, Mistress of the Dark at an age that was far too young. It could also have been  when you hosted a horror movie late at night, or a guest spot on a show. What I do know is that immediately you had an effect on me. You were beautiful, and funny, and macabre which was not a common combination in the world. In coming years we would have Morticia Addams as played by Angelica Houston and Wednesday by Christina Ricci, but in the late 80s there was only one prime time ghoul for future goth girls to emulate and it was you.

    To this day you remain a treasure to me. Your campy, spooky sensibility never ceases to make me laugh. Your sexy to the point of hyperbole clothing is witchy clothing goals. Your bad ass never give a crap what people think attitude is something I aspire to.

    Though you had a competition once to find a replacement, I knew there was just no way to find someone who could so perfectly embody all the heart, innuendo and horror you imbue Elvira with.

    Please keep being you, and your alter ego, for as long as it is fun to do so. I will be right here cheering you on from Columbus, Ohio.

    Unpleasant Dreams,

    Betsy

    sofa-2

  • Velvet Goldmine

    I love the clothing of fall. I love sweaters and hoodies. I love layers. And above all else I love velvet. In all its forms, in every color, I love velvet. I honestly wear it all year long, but it is more available in fall and I love every bit of it. I have velvet hats, shoes, skirts, pants, jackets and dresses. Here are some pieces that I am coveting currently and that absolutely get me in the fall mood.

  • Have the Lambs Stopped Screaming?

    Have the Lambs Stopped Screaming?

    That title is loosely related to what I wanted to talk about today which is that it is finally chilly enough to wear the amazing Death’s Head Moth Cape that I bought from a local seamstress and fiber artist Rachel Walker.

    In April at the Ashville Viking Festival my mom came up to me a told me she can’t believe I am not feeaking out about the death head’s moth cloak in that booth. I hadn’t even seen it. We went in and I made some kind of insane high pitched squee noise and asked if I could take it off to look at it. Rachel graciously allowed me to do so, and it was such a gorgeous work of art I knew I would have to have it.

    I asked how much it was, and it was a bit above my ability to pay immediately ($300) so I asked if she would consider accepting payments. I could give $100 immediately and pay monthly through paypal for the rest. She agreed and I have never been so excited in my life. She still had some sewing she needed to do on the piece including adding me big pockets inside.

    I actually picked it up at the Ohio Renaissance Festival the second weekend, but it has been so hot I have not gotten to wear it yet. I finally got to wear it this weekend and it is currently one of my favorite things.

    Cape Porn!!