Journal!Journal!
Journal!Journal!Journal!
Journal!Journal!

Ok, so I got tagged by Sompy but I had already done 10 Things (see my previous journal entry) so instead I stole this 3 thingie from Miss Hannah and I hope she doesn't mind too awful much.

So THREE then: *ahem*

Three Things You Want To Do Before You Die:

1. Have at least one novel published
2. Go to Egypt (especially the Temple of Isis on Philae)
3. Make a mil. $$$. Seriously you guys.

Three Names You Go By:

1. Annie
2. mommy (by my cat and fiance lol)
3. Miss Jackson if you're nasty. Ok, ok - years ago I used to go by Andy and there are a few folks who still call me that.

Three Screen Names You Have Had:

1. Miss Minerva Sage
2. Vexi Ferenczy
3. Bad!Annie

Three Physical Things You Like About Yourself:

1. eyes
2. brain
3. right nipple

Three Parts Of Your Heritage:

1. German
2. Polish
3. Russian

Three Things That Scare You:

1. spiders
2. clowns
3. failure

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:

1. lime green tank top
2. comfy short shorts
3. glasses

Three Of Your Favorite Bands/Musical Artists:

1. Queen
2. Avenged Sevenfold
3. Hossam Ranzy

Three Of Your Favorite Songs:

me: *Of all time? Are you trying to kill me?*

1. Toto - Hold the Line
2. Handel - Hallelujah Chorus
3. Gloria Estefan - Coming Out of the Dark

Two Truths And A Lie (in no particular order):

me: *buagh ha! now THERE'S my kinda question! lol*

1. I can recite Shakespeare.
2. I am a huge mushroom fan and like to cook and eat them.
3. I love to shoot guns and blow things up!

Three Of Your Favourite Hobbies:

1. reading/writing
2. sewing/embroidery
3. collecting books

Three Things You Want To Do Really Badly Right Now:

1. smoke a cigarette
2. get laid
3. get money

Three Careers You're Considering/You've Considered:

1. Tour Manager (a LONG time ago lol)
2. something in the field of geology
3. teacher

Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation:

1. Egypt!
2. Iran
3. Russia

Three Names You Like:

1. Spencer
2. Nadir
3. Danae

Three Ways That You Are Stereotypically A Girl:

1. OMG do I LOVE make-up!!! I want to move into an Ulta 3 store.
2. Pedicures rock!
3. I use my boobies to get my way with stupid boys.

Three Ways That You Are Stereotypically A Boy:

1. I love classic cars and driving FAST!
2. Man, I used to love the pit. lol
3. I am not easily intimidated and I always stand up for myself.

Three Tags:
1. I'm tagging Filipa back!

2. I am tagging Anna because I know how much she loved da!

3. And my mate Sheila 'cause I luv her!



In other news: the birds screeching outside my windows are going to make me turn into Tom Skeritt in Steel Magnolias. There is one in the tree that all the other little ones don't like and they are making a stupid amount of noise. I tried to go out there with the super soaker but it doesn't work anymore dammit. I've had to resort to loud music in my headphones to keep from losing my mind.

Besides that, I have projects out the hoo-ha to work on right now and I am actually happy that I have stuff to do all day every day. Still, I have been taking time off to go and hang out with friends and go to parties and stuff, enjoying the weather and the company, too.

OOH! And I finally got my camera so hopefully my pictures will be better from now on. Hopefully soon I will get around to taking some better pics of the bags I have for sale and get a web site up and running. If anyone has any tips for photographing my stuff I would LOVE to hear it, because I am a pretty terrible photographer.

And one last plug for myself: if anyone has any patches they want made I am available for commissions. I can base an embroidered patch on most reasonably simple designs, but complicated patterns can get too difficult. Please note me with any ideas and I will let you know about a price - I am thinking between $10 and $40 depending on the complexity of the design.

Thanks everybody!

p.s. That reminds me - I recently saw two movies that people have talked and talked about that I thought SUCKED. One was the Simpsons movie - what a piece of crap that was! The truth is that I stopped watching that show years ago because it was getting bad already, and the movie proved me right. Lame. The other movie that I thought was craptacular was Sweeney Todd - Stephen Sondheim should be stoned to death in the street for writing that awful music! The movie had the potential to be really good - the story was alright, the gore was good, and the cast an amazing group of actors, yet somehow it turned into a steaming pile of . Don't get me wrong - all of the actor's singing was actually surprisingly good - it was the lyrics and the music that made it horrible. About 20 minutes in I nearly turned it off, and then I remember Alan Rickman was going to be creepy later so I sucked it up and kept going - big mistake. That was weeks ago and I still keep hearing it in my head; that damn kid with the terrible fake cockney accent singing "nufin's gunna haarm ewe, naw sir, naw when oim araawwwnnnnn" GOOD GAWD SOMEONE POKE MY EARDRUMS OUT!!!

Whew. Ok, I feel better having gotten that out.

Love and bruises and bloody kisses,
~A

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Journal!Journal!
Journal!Journal!
Journal!Journal!

Well... I got tagged with this 10 Random Facts thingie again on myspace, and since I already posted one there, I decided to do another one here. So here goes:

10 Random Facts About Annie

1. I sleep with a hammer under my pillow - just in case.

2. As a teen I was a Catholic by choice (until I studied theology lol) and now I am an Eclectic Pagan who has a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her altar and prays the Hail Mary.

3. I love to sing and play music, but I have stage fright so bad it sometimes makes me throw up.

4. The first thing I ever learned to play on the guitar was the intro to 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston.

5. When I was a toddler I would steal doggie bones from under the sink and go stand behind the long living room curtains to eat them while the dog sat there growling furiously.

6. I have this fun inherited skin thing where if I have a big enough place to heal the scar tissue will continue to build up and not heal over with skin, leaving a smooth, slightly off-color scar. I recently found out they can be tattooed over, though - the one on my arm has become Isis' butt!

7. I was a Priestess of Isis in more than one past life, and in THIS life I am getting an entire Egyptian sleeve tattooed on my right arm.

8. I have one nipple pierced, and I'm not telling which.

9. My first kiss was in the second grade - I grabbed a neighbor boy (Eric Kruger) and pulled him into the closet to lay one one him. Prolly traumatized him for life, too. lol

10. As a teenager I wrote fanfic about KISS, mainly Gene Simmons - I have had a crush on him since I was like 5 years old and saw him on the TV in his demon make-up spewing blood. Scared the hell outta my parents that I loved him, too. lmao However, I never watch his current reality show because I can't stand to see him as a real person - I need him to be a Rock God for me. He's like the Zeus of heavy metal.

So that's that.

I promise to write another more interesting journal soon.

Love and bruises and bloody kisses,
~A

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***BUY "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***
***READ "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***
***BUY "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***
***READ "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***
***BUY "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***
***READ "SNUFF" BY ADAM HUBER AND ERIC ENCK***

So my friends Eric Enck and Adam Huber forwarded me an advance copy of their new collaborative novel "Snuff", both because I begged them for it and also because I promised I would review it wherever I may post.

Following is the review that I wrote which I will post here, on my myspace page, and also with my YourHub account. Give this a quick read over and see if you might wanna pick up this amazing new book! Thanks everyone!!!

Here is the link to the "Snuff" myspace page: [link]

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Visceral is generally a very strong word – it is used to describe an extreme instinctual reaction to something. It’s like when you can’t watch that part of Saw where Jigsaw is getting his brain operated on because it makes your knees feel all wobbly and your mouth go inexplicably dry. But while you can somewhat control your reactions to the excessive violence in a movie by covering your eyes during the scary parts, when you are reading it in a book you are forced to live all of the trauma right along with the characters.

There were several disturbing points where I had to put down “Snuff” and walk away for a while. After one chapter I had to leave the story alone for a few days while I processed the images which would not leave my mind. Now, I very rarely label any fiction as ‘disturbing’ since I also write things that make others wonder if I am sane. So when I read other reviews of “Snuff” labeling it ‘disturbing’ I was more excited than anything. Little did I know…

First of all – the writing is darkly exquisite. Adam and Eric put their considerable talents together and what resulted is incredible gory details and sick, twisted characters who are still real enough for you to believe. It is true that they only thing scarier than monsters is the evil man commits on his fellow man.

Something else I loved was the blasé reaction of the main character to all of the ultra-violence that he creates. Jack is surely a product of his environment as it is related all throughout the book, but in the end it seems that it is both nature AND nurture that created his particular brand of apathy. In one scene Jack and his accomplice Mikey have kidnapped a Catholic Priest for their latest endeavor. Mikey is finally feeling somewhat apprehensive about what they are doing and Jack teases him in reply. His responses are representative of his indifferent attitude.

Quote:

“I know this, but it’s still fun to fuck with you,” Jack said as he turned into the most recent hardware superstore to pop up along the highway. “Wait here and make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”
“What if he starts praying?”
“Don’t worry; his mouth is taped, so I don’t think God will be able to hear him.”

End Quote.

In addition to the gore and psychologically defunct main characters there are also several very uncomfortable scenes dealing with real-life atrocities that happen every day in this country. Of course Adam and Eric don’t know that when I was nineteen and in the midst of college finals my own mother made me take our sixteen year old lab to the vet to have her put to sleep because she couldn’t deal with it… so there was once particular scene that was very, very hard for me to read.

I think most of all I enjoyed the dark humor and sick, twisted sex/death scenes that pervade this book. It really speaks to the style of erotic horror that I like to both read and write the most, and while being sometimes crude it was at the same time intelligent. You might think with all the gore and senseless killing it would be a really heavy read, but instead the engrossing story pulls you in and leaves you wondering what the hell the characters could possibly do next to top what they have already done.

My favorite scene was the crescendo of the main character’s activities throughout the book when he films his ‘masterpiece’. It was truly one of the most disturbing things that I have ever read. I will only say that it involves clowns and sex and imaginative murder the likes of which I guarantee you’ve never read before. A little taste:

Quote:

Around the bed on a circular track ran a model train. The cameras, the lighting, everything was set. Jack opened the tray of CD player and popped in Tom Waits’ Black Rider.
“What the fuck is that?” Vanessa’s black skin shone like chocolate under the hot halogen lights.
“With everything going on right now, the music is what bothers you?” Jack asked, genuinely curious. Even through his wild face paint, his expression was both innocent and fresh, dark and brooding. It made his eyes look like bleeding lines of silver mercury.

End Quote.

To top it all off, just when you think everything is winding down, they twist you up at the end of the tale and draw you back in only to slap you in the face with a spectacular ending. The honest truth is that this book left me in awe. I re-read the final paragraph three times, all the while laughing and clapping because I really did not see it coming!

So if you are down for some very original, intensely shocking, thought provoking modern fiction I recommend that you pick up “Snuff” by Eric Enck and Adam Huber. Available in stores and online outlets May 2008.

Love and bruises and bloody kisses,
~A

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I can admit that the real reason I don't have kids is that I am far too selfish. There is a little "I don't think I'd be a good mom" and "I had to be grown-up as a kid" mixed in there, but mostly it's because I am far too selfish with my time and don't want to have to spend it chasing around the fruit of my loins. My man and I have decided (him being a doctor of physics and me being, well... me) that if we were to reproduce our offspring would be a mix of Bart Simpson and Ted Bundy - just think about how scary that is. I do not want to be responsible for unleashing that on the world, I can tell you.

The reason I brought this up is that we had my niece here overnight Saturday - she is six and she has an attention span of about two point five minutes. No less than every five minutes, if she is not right there with you, you pretty much have to say "Where are you at? What are you doing?" or she is getting into something. That meant that going to the bathroom was a tag-team event, because we didn't want to leave her alone - our house is absolutely not kid proofed in any way, and our geriatric cat is hostile towards children.

The only thing that kept her busy was watching vampire movies. She's like I was as a kid - she loves horror and loves to be scared, and she requested vampire movies, so we stayed up until midnight watching them. Queen of the Dammed was her favorite - she has dubbed it 'The Queen' is that the cutest thing you've ever heard? Of course, we DID watch it three and a half times. o.o Yeah.

So all in all it was frustrating and fun and exhausting and inspiring all at the same time. I love that kid to death but I am SO happy that I get to take her back home after I feed her all of that sugar.

Speaking of - one of the best parts was: on the way back to her house (about a 45 minute drive) just after we got underway she asked me to put on some "bad" music, and I asked 'like your daddy listens to?" and she nodded, so I put on Dethklok and turned it up, and she was laying on her backpack napping before the end of the first song.

So now that I've recovered and have my time back to myself, I'm off to do some things that have to be done and some things that are fun to do. I have to get my CASA reports done *le sigh* but I also get to get started on immortaldesigns bag for our trade and do some writing right after I take out the trash. *whah-whah* lol

Love and bruises and bloody kisses,
~A

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First thing: some of you may have noticed that I removed JK Rowling from the 'Favourite poet or writer' section of my Devious Information and replaced her with Stephen King. I did that both because our dear Mr. King was my first favorite writer and the more I am published the more I realize just how much he has influenced my style, but also because, well... because I simply don't like Jo Rowling. Just because she created my favorite literary character of all time in Severus Snape does not mean that I have to credit her with being one of my favorite writers. Yes I love the HP universe and yes I have truly enjoyed (most of the time) reading her story through all of it's episodes, but some of the things she does are just bleh. This most recent court case it bothering me because it could set a few precedents not only in the creation of Companion Guides (which have always been allowed and sometimes encouraged) and also the writing of fanfiction, which affects me. Of course she cannot stop any of us from writing fanfiction and such, but it could affect our posting of it online. As a writer I can certainly understand wanting to protect your characters and worlds, but I also see what a huge compliment it is to have people that into your writing. Perhaps some new rules need to be created in relation to payment or some such thing, but I think she has taken this way too far. Just my opinion.

Second thing: I have a new celebrity crush - Vladimir Putin! What's not to love? He's a strong leader, a Judo Blackbelt, ex-KGB, and he speaks like five languages. *sigh* He's just so dreamy. I'm sure there are plenty of people (*ahem* Americans) who will have shitty things to say about this, but the bottom line is that people in my country are nosy and think they know best, but we really need to try to keep our noses out of other people's business a little more. It's not to us to say how a man like Putin will run his country, where a great deal of his fellow countrymen are behind him and his bringing the Russian Federation back to being the world power that it should be. And that's all I'm going to say politically; back to the fangirly stuff. So I am not the only person to think he's a sexah beast considering the number of fanvids I found about him on youtube. There have even been several songs written about him and how awesome he is, it's very endearing of the Russian people to love their leader so much. I even found, gawd help me, a Putin/Bush fanfic online and NO I did not read it! What kind of a disgusting pervert do you think I am? Anyone with the last name of Bush is just *shudders* gross, and I'm not reading ANY fanfic with any of them in it. I'd rather read Filch/Hagrid than that! I will admit, though... right now I am having to keep myself from writing Putin-fic and if I do I'm certainly not posting it. I DID fave one of those Putin dance videos on youtube, tho sshhh, don't tell!

So... writing or stitching today, dunno which yet. My little hand quilted lotus is coming along ok, we'll see how she finishes up. Plus I need to work on the questionnaire for the Gentlemen of Horror anthology and work on my OWN second story for the Ladies of Horror anthology. Check my myspace link in my Devious Information if you're interested in finding out about either of those anthologies and my other publishings.

Thanks for checking in, everyone have a good day!
~A

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