Alice Madness Returns

On the second night of our Halloween weekend (which I am now paying for in pain) we attended a party hosted by my friend who was my maid of honor and dressmaker for our gothy wedding.  She's the manager of a video game store and some of her employees were there in video game costumes. I wore one too!

 

I'm in an Alice Madness Returns costume. I love the Xbox 360 game and the original game, American McGee's Alice.  The game is based on Alice in Wonderland and your get to play as Alice and use such awesome weapons as a pepper mill gun.  Basically any game that comes out with a female lead or the option of playing a female character I buy. 

Here's the character from the game. I think I make a good Alice and one of my middle names is Alice, so...

Vampire Halloween

Typically I dress in all black, but for Halloween I decided to dress up as a sort of vampire doll in all white. The veneers are flexible dental veneers that I got from Vampfangs.com and even though they come with a custom mold maker I decided it would be easier and less toxic to buy dye/additive free denture paste and stick them in with that. This proved to work out well and after a few hours with them in I got used to talking and sipping a vodka tonic with my new teeth.

The wig is from a cosplay site on Ebay and was shipped from Hong Kong (my favorite city in the world!).  The choker used to belong to a friend but she gave it to me. I happened to have it in my bag and decided it just added the right touch.

Here's the full dress. The lighting wasn't great at the tavern we went to, but the dress is an Elegant Gothic Lolita one-piece or OP from Bodyline. I love the EGL subculture, but I rarely wear my dresses because of my pain levels. Usually I think, oh blah I hurt too much to wear a dress, but it was actually
surprisingly fine.

The bands that played included one of our friend's who my husband used to be in a metal band with.  The other band that played was one of the bands that played at our wedding. They are so amazing and such kind men.  While their music sounds really brutal and loud it is their way of coping with issues like depression and even for one of them chronic illness. I can relate to that.  


All in all it was a wonderful night. The tavern had padded bar stools circa 1985 that were in great shape and very comfortable. I even did a bit of dancing. Loud music distracts me from how I feel physically and I love that!  Hubby was a black and white Mad Hatter. He looked great!

Tonight we are going to a friend's house for Halloween party number two!  I have a different costume for tonight!

Halloween & Gaming

Now let me follow up that previous post with how pop culture gets women right, in my opinion.  I've been trying to celebrate Halloween all month because I absolutely adore it.  Everyday I've done something seasonal from decorating to crafting to watching paranormal or Halloween themed videos.

I also picked up a new game! Emily the Strange: Strangerous.  Emily the Strange is an awesome figure to me. She's a small girl whose main message is "No, Leave me Alone" and spends her time with her cats.  Yes, she exists entirely as a commercial mascot, but in a sea of very shitty views on girlhood I find her refreshing.  I wish she'd existed when I was a girl and maybe I wouldn't have mistakenly thought I was a boy my entire childhood (internalized misogyny, boo).

So, how does her game stack up? I started playing it this morning and got through a few puzzles.  Here are my initial thoughts.

Graphics: Excellent.  The graphics push the DS display quite far.  They are all black and white with a touch of red.  This game is really a piece of art in the best sense.

Playability: Fair.  Puzzle games are not my typical choice in gaming.  The puzzles are decent, but do not have enough instructions.  The print is very tiny!  However, moving Emily around is easy and solving the puzzles is enjoyable.  I would like more of a reward than the success graphic, however.

Here's an example of one of the puzzles.  In this you put oddly shaped puzzle pieces together.  As you can see the black and white graphics lend a bit more of a challenge, but the limited playing surface also makes it a bit harder.

The puzzles include mazes, lock-picking, and visual identification so far. 


CONCLUSION: I like the game and will keep it playing it.

Women are Not a Commodity/Resource

Yes, in between posts about my hobbies and fashion exist posts like this one that focus on the things that really matter.  The more frivolous posts are not frivolous to me because they are my stress-relief/coping mechanism to deal with the harshness of reality. I believe in doing what I can to help change and also preserving my fragile mind (don't ask, too much trauma throughout my life).

So, with that in mind let's discuss the "Shortage of Women" articles that pop up all over.  Female infanticide has been an issue for a long time and infanticide in general has been a widespread practice throughout human history. 

Sex selective abortion targets the female fetus and results in skewed populations. I saw this in practice when I lived in Asia for a year.  There was an orphanage a short bus ride from my apartment and it was filled with floor after floor of girl babies and slightly older children.  Once a week I'd go there to volunteer which mostly consisted of giving the babies much needed attention.

What I find troubling is that EVERY article online that I've read so far has focused on the issue much the way one might write about over-grazing or dwindling fishing.  The issue is seen as one of men not being able to find wives and having to "import" women from other countries.  Writers tackle this horrifying problem from a heteronormative and very male perspective.  You can see this in articles like this one from Jezebel.

I don't think I need to say more.

Blood Dripping Manicure

 

Well a bloody manicure is as good as any other topic to start off this new blog.  How many other blogs of mine lay dormant and dying around the internet? Well, probably as many as the defunct websites that I've built over the years. Practice makes perfect!

Back to the topic "at hand". The manicure I gave myself, of course. This isn't the first time I've tried this look. I was inspired by the Lady of the Manners over at Gothic Charm School.

Last night was general Goth maintenance night. I added black dye over the older pink dye in my hair and even worked on stretching my ears. (Must get to 0g).  

Today was a great day. I was treated by my beautiful Metal Geeky husband to a soy latte and then bought myself a copy of the Emily the Strange DS game. I'll review it soon! Our trip to the nearby town to shop was wonderful accompanied by the cold and gentle rain. After returning home I had some gluten-free vegan chili for a late lunch and a glass of Witches Brew spiced wine.

Now as the night settles in I'm giving Vampire Diaries a chance on Netflix and trying to relax before bed.

Not bad for a first post.