Women in Horror Awareness Month 2011...Arbroath/Angus Local Event!?!

So as you might be aware of by now, February is Women in Horror Month.  A month to rasise awareness to the amazing talent of females in the horror industry.  Be it directors, producers, writers, bloggers, zinesters and fans.  As well as those kick ass girls in front of the camera, you know, that ones who are more than just a pair of adipose tissues.


So anyhoo, I've been thinking of something I can do locally within the Arbroath/Angus area.  I mean, I know enough of you love horror to get something going, and that's just my friends.  I want to do a local blood drive, I'm also considering maybe getting together a couple of films or something, I'm not sure.  Last years Ghouls on Film event in Birmingham was awesome.  I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.  Just want to know how many of your would be interested in this if I was to do something.

If you get in touch with me either via email, Facebook, or Twitter.  You can also post a comment on here, just whatever is easiest.  Let me know as soon as possible.  :)

Plastic Fanspastic - A Rant

So last year I watched this god awful show and it instigated this rant.  When going through stuff on my computer I figured it still relevant, and with everything that I’m doing Women in Horror based, promoting women as being more than just pieces of meat, I thought I’d share. 

A couple of months ago whilst round at my parents this programme called The Swan came on.  It actually made me feel quite physically sick that someone even came devised this concept in the first place.  Basically each week you get two completely insecure women, they meet up with a team of “specialists” who basically decide all the work that they need done on them to make them look better, and therefore happy!!!   They even supply them with a “psychiatrist” who will help them with any feelings of depression or mental health issues that they may suffer from.  So anyway, seriously plasticated and unlike themselves after, it is a contest between the two women as to who is to be put forward to a BEAUTY PAGEANT comprising of the weekly winners.  There is so many things wrong with this I don’t know where to start!!!!  Maybe it’s just me, but the way I see it, if you’re depressed and miserable, turning yourself into some fake plastic chipmunk is really not going to help. 

                                                  

A few days beforehand I had watched Jennifer’s Body, which by the way is tremendous amounts of fun…if you’re a girl, haha.  Maybe I just get Diablo Cody’s twisted girl relationship, I’m not sure.   

Anyway, Megan Fox was awesome in the title role (yes I know this creates somewhat, umm...discussion between peeps...a.k.a. Nia, haha).  As someone who frequently gets nominated “Sexiest Woman on the Planet” and all that gunf by men’s mags, it was great to see her looking crap, or as her best friend Needy says, “like shit, well for her anyway!”  And you know something…she has freckles.  A lot of them.  And funnily enough, when I look at pictures of her in magazines and what not, she’s not freckly; I guess what I’m saying is that NO-ONE looks the way they are perceived in magazines and movies, pretty much ever.  We live in a society where not just women but everyone is objectified.  Why is this? 

Mental health problems frequently breed weight issues, be it under or over.  Both of which can be extremely dangerous.  Medication plays a big part in this as well.  One of the main culprits that I know of is Lithium.  I first heard of this through one of my favourite books, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, (pretty much a statement as to how everyone’s living in Prozac Nation) who was a skinny young thing and then when she started taking lithium that all changed.  After speaking to people who take this medication, I have heard of similar experiences, predominantly in females. 

Fluoxetine (or Prozac) can be known to work the other way round and is often prescribed in the States for weight loss.  Now obviously this isn’t always the case and is dependent on how the individual reacts, we’re all different and I do realise that but it is a well known fact that some medications ARE responsible for weight gain, or loss.  Now the thing is, at the end of the day, we’re all responsible for what we eat and obviously eating lots of junk, isn’t gonna agree with us or help said problem.  Now we all know, from numerous chick flics and Ally McBeal, haha…that when women are depressed, they like ice cream and chocolate.  This is okay if it’s every now and again, but what if it’s a long standing condition?  It’s like knowing that you drink too much alcohol, you know it’s bad for you but how do you stop?

Firstly having a secure support system around you is essential.  You not only have to WANT to change yourself, you also have to have people around you to help you.  It’s all too easy to remain isolated and keep on telling yourself that you’ll do it tomorrow but we all know that without the proper support, the chances of that happening are a hell of a lot slimmer, if not impossible!!!!

Women have this image that men want them to be this cetain way, like freakishly skinny, but it’s just not like that.  My boyfriend would always moan about me being too skinny.  I always thought being skinny was a good thing…apparently, not inordinantly.  Boys like women who have more flesh on them…and even women voted my beloved Kate Winslet, as most desired female body.  And when it comes to the ANTI-Hollywood airbrushing issue, The Winslet is greatly at the forefront.  As someone who supports Eating Disorder Campaigns in the UK and who publicly sued a major men’s magazine for airbrushing and making her look completely unlike herself, she is an inspiration not only to myself as the greatest actress of our generation but as someone who stands out for women’s rights with her fist firmly in the air!!!  She’s gorgeous, opinionated AND ridiculously talented.  Surely an icon of all women!!!  I know I’d sure as hell like to be more like her.  I mean, there are things I don’t like about me. I wouldn’t plasticate them out of me though.  That’s just me though.  Hell I’d totally freak out if I was plastic!!!!!  Why would I want to be that way!?!  I want people to believe that they can be themselves without being some fake plastic ideal because at the end of the day, real people, they ain’t that into that!!!

Women in Horror Month - Adam Green Quote :)

Director/Producer/Sometime Actor Adam Green knows just how important women are in the horror industry.  Here's what he had to say to me last year about his thoughts on the women who make up such a huge part of the genre he loves so dearly.  


"While women have always been a crucial ingredient to the slasher film formula with their blood curdling screams, sex appeal, and brief flashes of bare skin, what many who don't "get" the sub-genre fail to realize is the fact that it is more often than not a woman who stands up to the villain and saves the day at the end of the slasher film. Women may make up some of our favorite victims in horror films but they also make up some of our greatest and most powerful heroes. Let's not forget that it was a woman who took down Michael Myers, a woman who handed Jason Voorhees' ass to him, a woman who defied Freddy Krueger's existence, and a woman who bravely ventured into the haunted swamp to face off with Victor Crowley. Quite simply, women rule in horror films. Period."  Adam Green

Women in Horror Awareness Month 2011...So It Begins, mwahahaha.

Last February saw the start of something ever so slightly special, the first annual Women in Horror Awareness Month.  The brainchild of the wonderfully demented and perfectly peculiar, Hannah Neurotica, Women in Horror month is our way, collectively working together to let the world know that there’s more to women in horror than just tits and scream queens.  And that, SHOCK HORROR…this isn’t a new thing!!!  The only difference is that now we’re standing up and letting everyone know that we’re here, and in all capacities. 

Numerous events were held around the world including the UK event Ghouls on Film.  Hosted in Birmingham, England by one of my bestest friends in the universe, Nia Edwards-Behi, Ghouls on Film was the chance for me not only to catch up with one of my favourite girlfriends, it was the chance to witness some brilliant shorts and two movies with women at the helm.  It also gave me the chance to spend a little bit of time with Horror Channel darling Emily Booth as well as other kick ass gals in horror.

One of my favourite things about Ghouls on Film was having the chance to see the almighty awesomeness of Dead Hooker in a Trunk!!!  This underground tribute to the good old grindhouse days is one of the most fun movies I’ve seen in the past few years.  Directed by and starring the gore-geous sick and brilliant Soska sisters, DHIAT is a wonderful example of girl power in the industry. 

Jen and Sylvia Soska have fully embraced this awesome month, setting up a blood drive and encouraging everyone to Bleed for Women in Horror, how morbidly delicious right!?!.  This is something that the girls will be doing again this year I’m rather excited to have been asked to be part of their video to advertise this bloody mission.  Mwah!

Another wonderful lady who I’ve had the priveledge of net meeting is Dai Green, managing editor of Horror News.net and the most totally PC woman on the face of the planet.  Who LOVES clothes and is never naked, HA!  Yes, delightful Dai was a naughty girl and got herself kicked off Facebook for a picture that caused offense to some prudish people.  We all campaigned to get her original profile reinstated but the gods of Facebook were dicks and she had to start all over again.  That’s a whole lotta friends to recollect.  She’s all back now though and makes sure she behaves and is always wearing as much clothes as possible.

Now this is just a few of the beautiful, sick and twisted, gore loving ghouls that I befriended last year.  In fact, it was this time last year that I was on my wee mission to raise awareness of Women in Horror Month, getting quotes and doing interviews with not only girls in the industry but the guys as well.  Directors such as Adam Green and Joe Lynch know just how important the girls are too and have utmost respect for them.  Eli Roth in particular has a fondness and respect for Hannah and her Zine, Ax Wound, as does Frank Hennenlotter and Herschell Gordon Lewis. 

Last year was ace in the fact that I got to speak to one of my favourite horror chicks of all time, Amy Steel (now Pulitzer).  Amy was of course the first girl to ever take on Jason Voorhees; this was back in 1981’s Friday the 13^th Part 2.  20 years later and she still stands out as one of horror’s most awesome, kick ass females.  You can read my interview with her here.

I’m really looking forward to getting into all the goodness that this year is going to bring and I can’t wait to work with all these amazing women again and to do my thing.  I’m even going to give blooooood myself.  I’m not promising that I won’t pass out though, haha.  My other statement for the month, one that Hannah and I would love it if you joined us in doing so is dyeing our hair BLOOD RED for the month of February!!!  Mwahahahaha.

Freezing Temperatures and Fibromyalgia - Are More Layers Better or Worse?

At this present moment in time Scotland and indeed a large part of the UK is in a total white out.  So what does this mean for those of us who suffer from chronic pain conditions?  It is a well known fact that the cold weather increases the symptomatology of conditions such as Fibromyalgia, as does damp weather.  So what do us as individuals do to cope with these freezing temperatures? 

When going outside in this weather my motto has always been ‘the more layers, the better’, however I am starting to question this logic.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find that the more layers I put on, no matter how thin or thick they are, my pain seems to increase.  Is this multitude of layers constricting my blood flow and henceforth increasing the level of pain that I feel?  It’s like having a hair bobble tieing up my hair that is pulled too tight.

Increased skin sensitivity is the number one culprit of this pain.  It feels as though my body is covered in bruises.  My muscles feel taught and sore, both to touch and to move.  The more layers of tops and cardigans I put on, the more my muscles tense up and my skin aches.  It’s like my body can’t handle the weight of the clothes on my skin.   Similarily, this pain seems to decrease, not inordinantly but at least a little upon removal of layers.  When I get in the house and change into a comfy pair of pyjamas, grab my hot water bottle and snuggle up on the couch, the pain does start to subside.

With this in mind I decided to see what I could find out online.  Surprisingly there is a total lack of information on this subject.  There is lots of information out there advising people with fibromyalgia about the differences between hot and cold, different barometric pressures and humidity yet nothing about wearing too many layers.

With increasingly long and cold winter nights, it’s quite easy to see why an individual would opt to crack open a bottle of wine as a way of numbing the pain.  This is not a long term solution though and the rammifications far outweigh the temporary relief that this provides when done on a regular basis.  So what other options are there out there to relieve pain and increase circulation that doesn’t cause the body so much damage?

One of my favourite remedies I got from Sue Ingebretson’s superb book FibroWHYalgia, it’s so simple, and it almost seems silly that something that is so much fun could be so effective.   With a sports bra of course.  

“One piece of home gym equipment I couldn’t do without is a mini-trampoline or “rebounder.” I purchased one for about $30 at a discount store several years ago and still use it almost daily. Who can’t find 15 minutes here or there to bounce around? It jostles stiffened muscles and gets the blood flowing. 

Improved circulation helps reduce muscle spasms as well as overall pain. In only minutes of bouncing, I benefit from stress relief, too.”

She's a wise woman and this book is superb, a must for anyone who either suffers or knows someone who suffers from Fibromyalgia or any other chronic condition.  Hell, even if you just want some enlightenment on the subject, Sue is a wonderful writer and so natural at it as well.  Reading FibroWHYalgia is almost like sitting down having a conversation over peppermint tea with her.  I Love her!!!  You can check out her website and blog here where there's also links to her Facebook and Twitter.  :)  

When our bodies are cold, our circulation is reduced.  A well known plant that is excellent for circulation, and indeed memory problems, is Gingko Biloba.  It is a circulatory stimulant that is known to increase flow in blood vessels, henceforth is excellent for Fibromyalgia sufferers. 

 

Devil’s Claw Root is another excellent remedy for Fibromyalgia as it not only works as an anti-inflammatory, but is excellent for improving circulation.  It may also aid better digestion, yet another symptom of Fibromyalgia. 

Bearing all of this in mind, I have since been wearing fewer layers.  Obviously enough to keep me warm, but not so much that I am stopping in essence, my body’s ability to breathe.  I’m hoping that by doing this, as well as following the rest of the advice I’ve laid out here, getting through this freezing cold winter might just be that little bit easier.  And obviously I'll still have some wine.  ;)

*NOTE - When I started writing this we were indeed in the middle of snowsville, thankfully now it's mostly all melted away and now all we have is rain, at least in Arbroath.  Let's see how my body reacts to this sudden change in weather.*

Jeremy Bamber - Injustice of the Most Shocking Kind!!!

How would you like to be convicted of a crime that you didn’t commit?  A crime that police have known that you are innocent of since 1992, however are still incarcerated in 2010!?!  This is exactly the case with Jeremy Bamber.  Right from the start there has been complete inconsistencies with this case yet Jeremy has still never been granted his freedom.  A grosse violation of human rights if ever I heard one.  I mean what the hell, the guy was only 24 when all this shit happened!?!  

Twenty six years this man has been behind bars, convicted of murders he never committed; murders that were in fact committed by his adopted older sister who after killing their parents June and Neville Bamber, killed her 6 year old twin boys Nicholas and Daniel before shooting herself. 

I remember when he passed the lie detector test, once and for all proving his innocence, I was working in a pub at the time and remember reading it and doing a big “oh my god, Jeremy Bamber is like TOTALLY innocent, HA!” spiel to everyone who was in the pub.  What amazed me was how little people knew who he even was, or anything about the case.  Yes this happened in 1985 but come on, we still remember The Goonies and we most certainly still love Dominos Pizza, so why aren’t we still shouting out about the injustice done here!?!  Why has this man been buried by the system?

For those of you unaware of the case, on 7^th August 1985 Jeremy Bamber called the local police station stating: "My father's just phoned me - he said, 'Please come over, your sister has gone crazy and has got a gun'." 

The sister in question is the adopted older sister Sheila, or ‘Bambi’ as she was known.  28 year old Bambi was a model in London with a history of serious psychiatric problems.  She was diagnosed a paranoid schizoprenic in 1983 and in the Easter of 1986 she was being treated in a psyciatric ward.  This was mere months before the White House Farm Murders in Tolleshunt d’Arcy, Essex, England.    

When the police arrived at the house after Jeremy’s call, they found the bodies of Bamber’s parents, along with Bambi’s twin boys and Bambi herself.  Inititally it was Bambi whom police suspected of the killings before killing herself.  It wasn’t until a month later, after an argument that Jeremy’s girlfriend Julie Mugford went to the police and did what I guess is the ultimate fuck you; she basically made him out to sound like a spoilt brat Essex Boy who wanted what his parents and sister had, despite having plenty of his own.  She told how he apparently had spoken to her of his desire to kill his family and inherit their wealth and that how he’d boasted he could comit the perfect crime.  This was of course the vindictive lies of a jilted lover and that combined with the bungled police investigation, it has cost Jeremy 26 years of his life. 

Jeremy has been described as “warped and evil beyond belief” and during his time in Full Sutton Prison, has been the victim of a knife attack that required him receiving 28 stitches in his neck.  Full Sutton is home to my second favourite serial killer of all time, Mr Dennis Nielsen.  As much as Dennis completely fascinates me though, I know that he is actually guilty.  Jeremy isn’t!!!  Can you even begin to imagine how awful it must be to know that you have served a life sentence for brutal slayings that you didn’t comit.  Knowing that the police screwed up big time and that because of this, you have been buried by the system, despite having passed a lie detector test proving your innocence in April 2007.  Most people would have given up or killed themselves, I mean what’s the point right?  The fact that Jeremy is still here, fighting his cause is testament to what a true spirit he is and I really admire him for that. 

There is so much information and proof of his innocence; I urge you to go check it out.  If you visit the Jeremy Bamber website there are links to numeous articles and videos, as well as links to his own Blogger and the Facebook group set up in his name.  I find it highly commendable the work done by these guys in their tireless efforts to clear his name.  Join me in spreading the word and hopefully together we can finally right this terrible wrong!!!

The Sheldonator – An Unstoppable Force of Insane, Narcissistic but Usually Compelling Hilarity!!!

Awards season is upon us and today, one of the biggies; the Golden Globe nominees were announced.  As in my humble opinion bloody downright should be, both The Big Bang Theory and Jim Parsons have been nominated for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy and Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy respectively. 

The Big Bang Theory is one of those shows that week after week has me in fits of laughter.  Its comedic timing is always spot on and the general madness that surrounds these four super geeks is absolutely brilliant.  Generally always in the middle of this, or more like sat in “his” spot on the sofa, is the one and only Dr Sheldon Cooper.  Apparently not insane (his mother had him tested!!!), Sheldon is the epithany of MAD SCIENTIST!!!  From his love of his MeMaw (Grandmother) to his eternal hatred of geek favourite Wil Wheaton, Sheldon is the ultimate geek and what he says goes.  His lack of understanding of basic human interaction is brilliant and brings around a real sweet, yet naïve sense about him.  Plus it adds to the entertainment value when he is put in situations when he has to try and act umm, normal.  Haha.  Something which is nay on impossible for him to accomplish.  All this said, Jim Parsons who plays Sheldon is an absolute star…he is also one of those people whom I would love to meet in real life, just to see how much Sheldon there is in the Jim.  Some of my favourite Sheldon moments are when he is with Kaley Cuoco's character Penny, the ditzy waitress/wannabe actress.  The two of them together are an absolute riot!!!

In the Golden Globes category that both the show and Jim Parsons are in, they're the ones I want to win, without a shadow of a doubt, there's no contest in my eyes.