Monthly Archives

April 2018

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The Empty Places

My job takes me deep in the woods, behind shopping plazas, and to abandoned lots. I visit the places customers and residents don’t see, the places in transition, about to become something new. The wild areas are lush with life and death. The abandoned places are different. Their history clings to them. People leave pieces of themselves behind.  Sometimes only trash.  Sometimes whole parts of their lives. Their presence is palpable, these past people, but the spaces are empty. These are the empty places. I’m drawn to them. I make up their stories, to fill[...]

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Dexter- A Must Watch Show

A few years ago, I was obsessed with watching Dexter. I discovered the show via my public library's dvd collection. They only had the first few seasons, so I needed to buy the last one or two to keep watching. This show hit the spot. I mean, it had everything--murder, mystery, intrigue, romance, and blood. Tonight, after catching up on the latest episode of Homeland, I scrolled through to find something to watch next and came upon Dexter. I am excited to begin watching the series for a second time, because I am sure I missed a lot of details before.   The o[...]

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Let’s Talk Horror Movies: A Quiet Place and Happy Death Day

Hey there, fans of all the horror movies. Let's talk about a couple I watched recently...yes, two movies for the price of one post. First, I decided to go see A Quiet Place in the theaters. My esteemed colleague Brian posted his thoughts on this movie, so go read it here, he is absolutely right. The silence in this movie is breathtaking. The crinkle of my M&M bag made me cringe. When someone sneezed in the theater, I almost cried out "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE NOW THANKS!". But I didn't. I'm not a movie-ruiner. Seriously, I was too busy sitting on the edge o[...]

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Truth or Dare

There's nothing creepier than when something well known and played turns into something evil. We all know that Ouija boards conjure malevolent spirits. There have been many movies telling this tale. But in Truth or Dare, playing a simple game becomes deadly. What's next? Never Have I Ever--Psycho Edition? Wait. That's good. Someone want to write and direct this...now? If you haven't heard rumblings about this movie, check out the trailer below. Lucy Hale is said to give an amazing performance. Seen it? Let us know what you thought in the comments. xoxo, A &n[...]

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Book Alert: City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson

Usually I try to let you know when I hear about or see an amazing new book. Today I heard about one coming out soon that I can't stop thinking about, so naturally I wanted to share it with you here. It's a murder mystery that I've read described as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl OR Ocean’s Eleven meets Blood Diamond. It's written by Natalie C. Anderson. You can check out her Goodreads profile here.   Reader, meet the City of Saints & Thieves!   ABOUT CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets [...]

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The Hands

Happy Friday, the 13th! I was going to do another Ode to Jason post, but I wanted to share a little personal somethin somethin with you guys. I used to live on the water. Not the ocean – no, nothing that luxurious – just on a little lake in the middle of nowhere. We had a rickety old dock and everything. I used to count down the days to spring, because once the water warmed up enough, I could start my day with a swim. The lake was small but deep. It’d claimed more than its fair share of sunglasses and fish hooks over the years. There was nothing in it more[...]

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Utopia Inside The Hollow Earth

Describe a utopia. Most stories about the Koreshan Unity do not. They focus on the founder, Dr. Cyrus Teed, his “illumination” during a laboratory experiment in 1869, and his bizarre belief in cellular cosmogony: that we live on the inside of a hollow Earth. They portray Dr. Teed as a cult leader, who as Koresh (Hebrew for Cyrus and shepherd) lured hundreds of people from Chicago and elsewhere down to a commune in the Florida wilderness. Utopian portrayals, with characters searching not only for a happy ending, but to create an ideal world, aren’[...]

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The Santa Clarita Diet

What did we ever do without Netflix? Seriously? Once upon a time, we had to wait an entire week in order to watch the next episode in our favorite show. Now, we can binge watch umpteen seasons of shows like Friends in a matter of a month! But then what do you do when you finish watching all of these old favorites? You find something new. And it doesn't have to be a popular show, either. There are so many choices to be had. To make things even more exciting and diverse...Netflix has created its own shows!!! One such show is The Santa Clarita Diet. It was reco[...]

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How To Exorcise Your Bad Writing Habits

We all like to think we're dutiful little ink slingers, writing pitch-perfect prose and never straying into bloodcurdlingly-bad storytelling territory.  Sometimes even the best manuscript becomes possessed by bad writing that's in need of a little exorcism. Here are some tips on how to find the sickness within your story or book and purge it. The Stages of the Exorcism Every good exorcism follows a standard checklist used to pinpoint and purge the bad parts: Pretense - When the demon hides its true identity Breakpoint - When the demon reveals itself Cla[...]

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Silence is the Star of A QUIET PLACE

My favorite thing about seeing A Quiet Place in the theater was watching--or rather, hearing--the effect it had on the audience. It's rare that a movie truly makes an audience hold its collective breath, but this one does so frequently. It kind of tricks the audience into believing that they are in some way also responsible for the fate of the characters, and any random noise they make could attract the horrific monsters that populate the world of the film. This spell A Quiet Place casts upon the audience wouldn't be possible without the superb sound design of[...]