Category: General Silliness

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Fashion Crap: Vintage beaded purses, anyone?

So nearly a year ago I promised to piggyback my antique jewelry post with a look at some of my spiffy vintage beaded purses.  Most of these purses came from my grandfather, the king of pawns and master of the Bay Area flea market.  It’s also possible that one or two of them belonged to my great-aunt Alice.

But FIRST, my awesome silk shawl from the 1920s.  This is the famous Shawlhead shawl, ifyouknowwhatImean.

Silk 1920s shawl.
Silk 1920s shawl.
Shawlhead
Shawlhead.
Shawlhead by Lani
Kali in 1920s silk shawl. Photo by Lani Teshima.

Okay.  So onto the purses.  First up is a cute, cream-colored purse with machine embroidery and white beading.  It has a sparkly clasp and metal chain, and looks to be from the 1960s.  There’s no maker or shop mark on the lining to identify it…

Continue reading “Fashion Crap: Vintage beaded purses, anyone?”

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This is Haunted Halloween!

Collection CD art...
"This is Haunted Halloween" collection CD art...

– A festive two hour collection of holiday tunes, debuting on October 1, 2010!  –

Disc One is packed with a selection of macabre party hits, from a new extended mix of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to Sheb Wooley’s campy “The Purple People Eater.”  Disc Two follows with pieces reflecting the darker side of Halloween.  Here, spooky film themes, ghoulish classical favorites, and other grisly tunes mix it up with creepy sound effects perfect for a stormy night.

Produced by Jason Pittman and Kali Pappas, this collection offers new presentations of old classics alongside several fun surprises.  But beware — this is not your average Halloween mix tape.  Listen and share!  If you dare…

Available for download NOW:

Audio files:

– Disc 1 – 17 .mp3 files, tagged and labeled. (128kbps LAME MP3)

– Disc 2 – 14 .mp3 files, tagged and labeled. (128kbps LAME MP3)

Expanded notes on the collection and the various tracks:

– Liner Notes.pdf

– Liner Notes.rtf (text only)

Artwork:

– 3 .psd files, complete with gutters and ready for conversion/printing (CYMK)

– 5 .jpg files, at screen resolution for viewing (RGB)

– 1 .jpg file, 800×800 pixels, for use as cover art in your preferred media player

LINKS:

http://tinyurl.com/hauntedhalloween

http://bit.ly/hauntedhalloween

Mirror:

http://tinyurl.com/strangebeat

http://bit.ly/strangebeat

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Dead Man’s Party…

Almost time!

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Mr. Ghost Goes to Town

“Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.”

~ Arthur C. Clarke

More to come!

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Halloween Spooks!


The strangest sight you’ve ever seen
The Monster Tree on Hallowe’en …

~ Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

More to come!

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This is Halloween…

T h i s * i s * H a l l o w e e n

Goblins on the doorstep,
Phantoms in the air,
Owls on witches’ gateposts
Giving stare for stare,
Cats on flying broomsticks,
Bats against the moon,
Stirrings round of fate-cakes
With a solemn spoon.

Whirling apple parings,
Figures draped in sheets,
Dodging, disappearing,
Up and down the streets,
Jack-o’-lanterns grinning,
Shadows on a screen,
Shrieks and starts and laughter
This is Halloween!

~ Dorothy Brown Thompson

Stay tuned for something special…

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Interview with Aisha director Rajshree Ojha

IndianExpress.com recently published an interview with Aisha director Rajshree Ojha, highlighting both the challenges she’s faced as a female director in Bollywood and the striking social parallels within Emma’s and Aisha’s worlds.

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend.  Happy Fourth of July!

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“Austen Addict” novels spin off into web series!

Laurie Viera Rigler’s wonderful Austen Addict timeswap novels have inspired a hilarious new Babelgum web series!  “Sex and the Austen Girl” premiered today with the first of twenty episodes.  Entitled “Meeting Men,” this series introduction features Austen Addict characters Courtney Stone (Arabella Field) and Jane Mansfield (Fay Masterson) discussing the dating differences and similarities between 1813 England and 2010 California.

How can you encourage men to call?

Jane, on 1813:  “You wait! You wait and hope!”

Which is pretty much how it goes in the 21st century, too.

How do you meet men?

Courtney:  “…you go to parties, you go to bars, you go to restaurants…”
Jane:  “…you marry your cousin…”

I guess it worked for Fanny Price.

Anyway, here’s episode 1:

The teaser:

Poking fun at everything from Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl to crazed 21st century Austenites, “Sex and the Austen Girl” is the funniest, most relatable chick-centric web production I’ve seen in a long time.

More…