All Hallows' Even!

(Music by Jill Tracy, directed by Bill Domonkos)

I guess, this puts you in right mood :-) ah, the horror.

As a German, Halloween as a very remote part of my cultural background via the Walpurgisnacht, but I welcomed this new holiday and really like it. I think it is a good thing to "make friends with" the dark, the evil&horror for at least one night. It's like laughing into the face of your fears, right?

Here I have a little movie that unites monsters and a passion of mine: lettering. So beautiful!



Following the explosion of Halloween related articles on the web it seems as everybody just waited for the occasion to get out the skeleton!
Here is were you can make your own! Or make a whole spooky house!

Meeting the frightful can end in unusual friendships or insights.

Link:

Personally I feel that November is the month of the spooky things, ghosts, fog, black cats and strange sounds from the stairs.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

The perfect month to snuggle under blankets und read before the christmas rush begins.
What about some classics?

The mother of all horror stories:




You still can stand some strange and weird things? Flip through Steven Martin's Set of Vintage Halloween photos. Incredible!

And finally, tomorrow, we can be happy to live in modern times! Thanks to science the witch-hunting is history!

On of the best virals I've seen lately, with genius reference to Monty Python.



Have a good Halloween and a better weekend, Belle

It's getting rainy

Yes, finally autumn is really here and with it not only hot cocolate, but rain, too.
Weather forcast says that it will rain today in my surroundings, which means an umbrella is a must (if you are not the english type of guy who faces water from above with a hat and a stiff upper lip).
Personally I opt for Umbrella, every year I buy a new one (of low quality, that's why they last just one season), this time I wonder if I should invest some money and get something that screams up to the clouds: "ha! I don't care!"



or more an honest one?



Find your favorit here.

Fortunately Italy isn't really a rainy country, but when it rains it pours. The worst about rain in Italy is that streets aren't really designed to drain away quickly all the water so often you walk in puddles and even when I tried to hop from one spot to the others you always end up with completely soacked shoes and feet. I am thinking about getting wellies, but then you have to carry your "good shoes" with you and that's just what I want to avoid.

My secret dream: galoshes!
"Properly speaking, a galosh is an overshoe made of a weatherproof material to protect a more vulnerable shoe underneath and keep the foot warm and dry. (Wikipedia)" Have you ever seen some? I mean something that goes over your shoes and keeps you dry?



Search no further: they are here!



I think Swims are one of these products that you see and think: how could I live without before? They are genius! (Judging by the pictures. I never had one, never wore one and probably will not in nearer future.)

So, that is all you need for...



or maybe you prefer to stay in?

Have a good Friday and a better weekend! Belle

Mister Robert Ryan is a paper Artist which makes these beautiful Papercuts. I’ve never seen something similar before, it has an own personal style, romantic, but modern.



I love his work, surfing around on his website is always a pleasure.

Axel Broetje made a whole film with it - very nice and strange!



This is FinallyitsFriday when I put it through wordle.



I really liked the combination of words this little site comes up with. You can enter your own text, your URL or other. What about your favourit poem?



So, have a nice Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Some variations on one theme

This is a little collection of films that talk about one thing: love and all its different stages.
This collections has grown over the last year and I never knew in which post I should add them, so in the end I put them all together. Maybe this would be a perfect S. Valentine post, but I think in February everything will be rosy and we’ll have a love-overkill. I will make my Halloween post then for S. Valentine, ha ha!

Let’s start with dating:


And if dating goes terrible wrong:


But when you've found your soulmate you'd go through everything for them! Aaaaw!


After a while, a very long while, life gets symbiotic. I know people like this. I hope one day I will be one of them.


Or not. Then you just start over again! :-)


Have a nice Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Jane Austen Season

It's Friday, please fasten seat belts and relax during our start into the weekend.



See the high quality version here, it's so beautiful!

Autumn is here officially, and in Italy we still have warm and sunny days, perfect to stay outside during the day to enjoy the season. Like every season also Autumn has its own joys: like the return of the tea, related sweets like apple tarts, harvest and extreme couching (read: stay excessive time on your couch/sofa) or do all these things together while reading a book or watching a movie while it’s raining outside. I decided to get some Jane Austen books for my next extreme couching session but this means I at least waiting until November, when weather gets bad even in Tuscany.
Then I stopped in my library and thought why wait?” and got the only Austen book available: Mansfield Park.

Even if it is considered the less romantic book in Austen’s work it still hooked me. And since I cannot have the fine English weather to read it in style I took the book to the park.



I wished I could have even dress up to fit the book’s story.



As I may enjoy reading books in the right ambience, others create the right world for books. Take the virtual tour to Jay Walker's Library.



So, I guess this weekend I will finish Austen and if I have time there will be Apple tart, too!

Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle
p.s. still here?