Target's Halloween Shirts for 2011

Our neighborhood Target is tragically slow at stocking their shelves with Halloween items. but this weekend I decided to venture out anyway to see if they'd gotten off their lazy bums for once. As usual, they only had a small selection of items out, including some pet costumes, the beginnings of their Halloween section and their Halloween t-shirts. It seems they have less tees than last year, plus some repeats (disappointing!!), so I was a bit let down at the lack of selection. Boo.

I purchased the best shirt there, the "Little Miss Spooky" one, of course! I figured it was just too fitting for me to pass up!

I snapped a few photos of the other few items they had out as well:

I'll have to head back in a week or two (or try a different Target) to see if they have any more spooky holiday items out!

I hope your Target is quicker at getting out Halloween items than mine!!

Check out my post on last year's Halloween t-shirts HERE!

Trick r Treat's Sam Goes Back to School

I love the holiday-themed promos director Michael Dougherty has been creating that feature Trick r Treat's incomparable Halloween defender, Sam!

The newest one has a back-to-school twist just in time for September!

You can check out the latest one below or on FEARnet!

Tonight's Viewing: The Ward (2011)

 The Ward (2011)

In John Carpenter’s The Ward, Kristen, a beautiful but troubled young woman, finds herself bruised, cut, drugged, and held against her will in a remote ward of a Psychiatric Hospital.

She is completely disoriented, with no idea why she was brought to this place and no memory of her life before being admitted. All she knows is that she isn’t safe. The other patients in the ward, four equally disturbed young women, offer no answers, and Kristen quickly realizes things are not as they seem.

The air is heavy with secrets, and at night, when the hospital is dark and foreboding, she hears strange and frightening sounds. It appears they are not alone. One-by-one the other girls begin to disappear and Kristen must find a way out of this hellish place before she, too, becomes a victim. As she struggles to escape, she will uncover a truth far more dangerous and horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

OPI Spookettes Halloween Collection

OPI's Spookettes collection for Halloween 2011 is here! Check out the cute colors above, including He’s My Boo (orange), Mummy Knows Best (white), I Only Date Werewolves (black) and Zom-Body to Love (glow-in-the-dark green), plus some free nail decals.

Now available at most beauty stores or on Amazon.com!

Labor Day Weekend Halloween Haul

Ah, Labor Day weekend...for me, it means an extra day off from work (woo hoo!) and of course the unofficial kick-off to Halloween season! Mister Spooky and mine's anniversary also falls on Labor Day weekend, making it extra special for us!

This weekend I already told you about our trip to Roger's Gardens, which is transformed into a Halloween-lover's paradise this time of year, but we also visited several other places in my rabid quest for Halloween goodies.

One of our neighborhood Halloween stores opened up, and though its selection seemed pretty sparse, I did snap a few photos of interesting items they had.

We also visited several other stores (TJ Maxx/Homegoods, Michael's, Ross) and found quite a few goodies!

And here's a photo of some of the items I picked up, including a cute set of bat bowls, a haunted house serving tray, cute orange and black dipping bowls and some vintage-looking Halloween light boxes!

Film Review: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was one of the few horror movies I’ve actually wanted to see this year. I love big old houses with a disturbing past and the premise of creepy little creatures going after a child seemed pretty promising. The trailer even managed to freak me out with that infamous what’s-hiding-under-the-bed-sheets scene, not to mention Guillermo del Toro’s involvement in the film.

I have never seen the original made-for-TV movie the film is based on, but hopefully I’ll be able to track it down one of these days and give it a viewing, though I hear it is pretty cheesy. Still, I had somewhat high hopes for this reboot, even though Katie Holmes was in it (not a big fan of hers). This past weekend I escaped the cruel end-of-summer heat to seek refuge in a near-empty theater to give Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark a looksie. Now, I had been looking forward to this film for quite sometime, so I purposefully didn’t read any reviews of the film and tried to avoid all whispered opinions of it prior to my viewing. I also tried to keep my expectations in check, since horror has been such a let-down to me recently.

The film begins with a little girl, Sally (Bailee Madison) moving back in with her father (Guy Pierce) and his girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) as they are renovating a spooky old house in rainy Rhode Island. Little girl makes some interesting new friends who live in a hidden, sealed-up basement. Said basement is reopened, the little creatures are set loose upon the (mostly) unsuspecting household and “accidents” begin to occur. Sally soon learns the creatures want to claim her as their own, but no one believes her, until Kim begins some research on the house and learns some interesting information about the previous tenant and how he and his little boy disappeared. Can the creatures be stopped before they claim Sally forever?

This movie started out promisingly enough. The location was sheer perfection and I spent the majority of the film drooling over the amazing old house where the story takes place. In fact, I spent most of the film fantasizing about living there! Anyways, like I was saying it starts out promisingly enough with a jolting first scene and an introduction to our main characters and their rather dysfunctional family. The reveal of the creepy creatures comes very effectively as they whisper things to Sally throughout the old house’s ventilation system, but the middle part of the film lags as it focuses more on how Sally’s father believes her to be “disturbed” rather than believe her tale of monsters in the house and how he and Kim are always busy with the house’s renovations and don’t devote enough time to Sally. There’s a bit too much family drama and not enough unraveling of the clues of the previous tenant (a famous painter who left some rather interesting artwork behind). I think 30 minutes could have easily been cut as the film just drags on a bit too much.

I also thought the creatures should have remained in the shadows more, as I found their whispered promises far creepier than how they actually look. I also wish the film had played with light and shadows more, which would have made it more impressive visually and especially since light/dark is such a huge plot point. There were no real “scary” instances in the film (besides the creature hiding under the sheet, as seen in the trailer), which was disappointing. Sure, the whisperings of the creatures was spooky, but it was used so often that it lost all of its fear factor in a short time (it also didn’t help that the creatures sounded like Gollum from Lord of the Rings…“my precious!”)

However, it wasn’t all bad…I did enjoy the story (especially the backstory) and the fantastic setting, plus I was surprised that Katie Holmes didn’t annoy me much. The young actress playing Sally, Bailee Madison, did a truly amazing job and I’m sure she has a very bright career ahead of her!

Truthfully, though, the film just left me lukewarm and is unfortunately forgettable. I certainly didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. The sad thing is that the film will probably fade from my memory and I won’t think about it until I see it hitting store shelves on DVD, and then I’ll just think “oh, ya…didn’t I see that?” and just walk on by.

Halloween at Roger's Gardens

Today was Mister Spooky and mine's 5 year (!!!) anniversary (time really does fly when you're having fun), and since this year our anniversary coincided with the opening of Roger's Gardens' Halloween display we decided to celebrate by attending!

Roger's Gardens is an upscale nursery here in Orange County and every year they set up elaborate Halloween displays packed full of props, curios and unique spooky items. We go at least once (but usually multiple times) to check out their amazing Halloween displays (check out last year's post and photos HERE).

This year they really outdid themselves with their theme of "Blackstone Theater", where they invited guests to "Explore the remnants of the abandoned 'Blackstone' Back-Alley Theater. Roam dark mysterious rooms haunted by ghosts of performances past. Surroundings of strange objects, unique characters, and theatrical fascination will undoubtedly spark inspiration in artistic hearts. Enter a world of intrigue and bizarre beauty at Roger’s Gardens for a Halloween Experience unlike anything you’ve seen."

Check out the photos below!

I want everything in this cupboard!

I so adore owls!

 

Amazing Halloween notebooks...perfect for spooky kids in school!

A book on costumes from the 1920s to the 1950s (I WANT!)

 Absolutely gorgeous wings...too bad they were $400!!!

Me and a darling pumpkin!!

These Boots Were Made For Stomping

Put on your stomping boots!

I've been discovering tons of new (well, new to me) gothy blogs lately (and loving every second of them), and one of them is the intriguing Sophistique Noir, run by the gorgeous VictorianKitty. It seems that every month she runs a themed blog where everyone in the blogsphere is invited to participate and create posts that revolve around the theme. I love the thought of exchanging ideas, photos, styles and so on...especially if these things revolve around the goth subculture.

 

So today, after perusing many lovely posts by talented bloggers, I decided to give this "theme of the month" a try, especially since September's theme is boots, only one of my favorite things!!

With fall right around the corner, I can't help but dream of boots...even though I already have plenty! One of my favorite fall activities is shopping for that perfect pair of boots...and then planning outfits around them...and, when it finally gets chilly enough, actually getting to wear said outfits!

However, before I go buying any more boots, I suppose I should take stock of the ones I already have. In the photo above I'm wearing some flat riding boots paired with fishnets and a cute fluffy Lolita-like skirt (not that you can see it too well). Below you'll see a few pairs of boots I own...even a pair of cowboy boots (very gothabilly, no?). My faves are my platform Demonias, which I've had forever (but they are still holding up!), that are excellent stompy boots when hitting Bunker. My most versatile are the previously mentioned riding boots, which I wear with everything!

I wish I had time to take individual pics of me wearing all the boots...maybe a later post!

My newest addition is a cute pair of Victorian-style boots (you can't see them too well in the photo above...they are right next to the platform Demonias). They are so adorable, I love them! And I got them on clearance!

The best part of my boots, though? They are all cruelty-free and vegan! None of the boots I own are leather or made with animal products. This is probably the thing I am most proud of about my boots, and it was so easy to find affordable boots made of only man-made materials! Yay for compassion fashion!