Halloween Countdown: creepy projects for crafters & hobbyists. (Monster models, knitting, cross stitch, paper cutting & more.)
Posted: August 22, 2014 Filed under: Halloween | Tags: crafts, creepy, cross stitch, Halloween, hobbies, Knitting, monster models, Monster Scenes, Renae Rude, The Paranormalist 2 Comments
Today, August 22nd, is just 10 Fridays before Halloween.
Show your love of Halloween and drive your friends crazy by sharing the above image on your social media sites this week.
The signs of the season are starting to appear! Yesterday, I noticed a Halloween issue of a women’s magazine on a grocery store rack and today I bought a bag of prominently displayed candy corn at Target 🙂
I stayed up waaaay too late last night, updating this week’s countdown post. I got sucked into learning more about monster models in particular. There’s a whole new section about “Monster Scenes” and the controversy surrounding them when they were first released. (Hint: they were banned in the USA, due to their sexual and sadistic flare.)
I’ve added some fresh knitting & cross stitch patterns for the season. I’ve also double-checked all the existing links, and redirected or modified as necessary, so that all the information is accurate as of today.
VISIT:
Halloween hobbies: monster models, knitting, cross stitch, paper cutting and more
to browse some options, or to be inspired to find a new hobby, or pick up one that you’ve set aside in the summer.
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To see  my overall plans for the 2014 season,
and to catch up with the countdown so far,
please visit The Halloween Countdown Homepage,
which is also freshly updated.
To access the Halloween Countdown homepage / index of articles, click this image wherever you see it in the blog, or find the link in the header of the blog.
Surviving the cold, part 2: movies & other indoor activities for paranormal people and horror fans.
Posted: January 30, 2014 Filed under: *Macabre Media | Tags: crafts, horror films, horror movies, Knitting, Renae Rude, spaceteam, The Paranormalist, Zombies Run! 2 CommentsThe polar vortices, repeatedly roaring down from the arctic, seem to be keeping us huddled under blankets on our sofas. Here at The Paranormalist, there’s been an uptick of hits on posts offering entertainment ideas for paranormal-type folks who can’t get outside to cryptid-hunt, UFO-watch, or graveyard-prowl.
Yesterday, I gave you the rundown on what’s happening on TV right now, and in coming weeks. Today, let me offer a few more suggestions.
WATCH A MOVIE:
The most popular post at the blog is: The 13 most haunting films, for ghost story lovers (and another 13+ worth watching.) I’m not surprised – it is a treasure trove of  creepy ghost movies recommendations, thanks in large part to the fantastic comment thread, where folks have been chiming in with suggestions of their own.
If ghost stories aren’t the ideal movie entertainment for you, just pop over to the Courting Creepy section to find suggestions for scarier fare – films featuring writers or zombies. You can also shore up your knowledge of classic horror flicks or risk intensifying your cabin fever into full-blown insanity by exploring a selection of the best psychological horror films.
DO SOMETHING A BIT MORE ACTIVE:
If you’ve reached the point where you need to DO something other than sit passively on the couch, I’ve got a few options for you.
If you have access to a treadmill or indoor running track, check out Zombies, Run! a fitness app with a dark twist.
If all you’ve got is a cell phone (and a bored friend or two who also have cells,) look into the sci-fi techno-babble game Spaceteam.
If you want to have something to show for your isolation, review Halloween hobbies: monster models, knitting, cross stitch, paper cutting and more. Despite the Halloween-theme of the original post, there’s plenty of ideas there that can amuse a winter-trapped horror / paranormal fan.
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- freepatterns.com
‘NetNet: horror movies, a blog toy, LOLs, soup, bats and nudity.
Posted: November 23, 2013 Filed under: Bats, Guest Posts & Reblogs, Knitting, Movies & Films, NetNet | Tags: bats, horror movies, Knitting, Minnesota, nude modeling, paranormal, paranormal LOLs, presentation software, Renae Rude, The Paranormalist, wild rice soup 14 CommentsA short NetNet, this week folks. Apparently League of Legends has an exciting new update that The Boy must play as much as possible. And The Ogre is telling me we have to grocery shop, go to the gym and do laundry. Sigh. I might add a few more links later tonight. In the meantime:
LISTEN TO THE MONSTER MEN DISCUSS RECENT HORROR FILMS
I love to hear these two talk about movies. As usual, I watched the show with a pen in hand and a browser window open. Here’s a list of the movies mentioned, and their availability right now.
R = Redbox | N = Netflix Streaming | D = Netflix Disc
The Fourth Kind (N) – The Purge (RD) – Dark Skies (RD) – Paranormal Activity 3 & 4 (NR) – Insidious (D) – The Bay (RN) – Absence (N) – Sinister (RD) – Â You’re Next (R) – The Lords of Salem (RD) – The Devil’s Rejects (D) – Kiss of the Damned (N) –Â The Conjuring (RD)
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 … SPEAKING OF THE CONJURING
If you’re just now seeing it for the first time, please consider responding to my poll: When would you get the hell out of the houe in The Conjuring? If you answered the question back when it was in the theaters, you might be interested to see what the consensus is so far.
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PLAY WITH A NEW (FREE) BLOG TOY
Matthew Alan Bennett brings to us this fun-looking presentation creation software. This is his sample doodle:
I haven’t had a chance to play with it, but you know I will. If you want to give it a go, visit powtune.com.
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HAVE A GRIN / SNICKER / CHUCKLE
Have you popped over to my cheeseburger collection, ParanormalLOLs lately? I add new funnies whenever they come through my feeds, and this was a particularly good week.
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MAKE SOME SOUP THIS WEEKEND
I swear November weekends cry out for a big pot of soup or stew. On Sunday, I’ll be posting a recipe for my all-time favorite soup, (which I made last weekend, so I could photograph the process.) Unless you want to do step one of MY recipe (roast a turkey) tonight, however, you may want to join me in trying Minnesota Wild Rice soup this weekend.
I found this recipe over at Debra DeLong‘s website. We got into a lengthy comment discussion about the “Minnesota-ness” of wild rice … because she’s in Ohio and I’m in Minnesota. (She even wrote a follow up post about it.)
At Romancing the Bee, Debra usually posts recipes involving honey. Because she keeps bees. Because she’s cool like that.
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LOOK AT ADORABLE PICTURES OF BATS
This week, Deborah DeLong ALSO reblogged a piece from Buzzfeed, This is Why We Should Love Bats. It has 20+ pics of bats being awesome. Like these:
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- Via imgur.com
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- irrawaddy.org
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- Via suelovesjunk.blogspot.com
(I don’t usually share reblogs here at NetNet, but I made an exception for the bats. Because they are bats.)
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CONSIDER NUDE MODELING
Madeleine Swann had a piece published over at Who Are We Now this week. After reading it, I’m contemplating breaking some personal boundaries. Read: A Life Model’s View.
BTW, I think the navigation page for Who Are We Now is cool. Here’s a screen shot, but it’s clickable at the site. So simple. So elegant.
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[The late night additions follow.]
START PLANNING YOUR OLD AGE
A woman named Monica Lerena stopped by the blog and liked something or other. As is my usual practice, I popped over to her place to show my appreciation. ‘Turns out, she just started her blog, Postcards From the Gutter. While poking around, I was led to this video. I’ve recently picked up my knitting practice again, so it caught my eye.
“‘Kaffeslabberas’ is a knitting club in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Amager. It’s members are female pensioners …Â This project partners up these ladies with Danish artists and designers, with the intent of creating a connection across generations, through the strengths of craftmanship, diversity and experience.”
I want to be one of these ladies in about 40 years. (Yes, I checked my math. Life is long, if you’re lucky.)
Is it just me, or are Scandinavians fascinating? So familiar and alien at the same time. (Says the Minnesotan, who is 3/4 Norwegian.)
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PREPARE FOR POST-THANKSGIVING-DINNER TORPOR
Juliette, over at Vampire Maman, has come up with an excellent set of suggestions for Thanksgiving movie viewing. Check out: Having Guests for Dinner? Thanksgiving Day Movies with a Bite!
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There is no way I’m going to capture every great thing that happens in my personal web, let alone on the wider internet. The posts I feature here just happened to catch my eye. They resonated with me and whatever is going on in my life right now. And they are worth sharing.
#NetNet
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Renae Rude - The Paranormalist 