shelterwoodpod - Tumblr blog

[shelterwoodpod]

Collection of exit and fire safety signs

[shelterwoodpod]

[shelterwoodpod]

Wayne, Michigan

[shelterwoodpod]

[shelterwoodpod]

The house keeps its own secrets.

Based on my illustrated gothic horror series, the Deephaven Mysteries! The first book is on shelves now, with a new mystery coming this September that you can preorder wherever you get books!

[shelterwoodpod]

antennas

[shelterwoodpod]

[shelterwoodpod]

[shelterwoodpod]

In honor of recording a bloodborne style giant monster fight today, I'm happy to contribute my own version of this sign I use at my apartment

[shelterwoodpod]

[shelterwoodpod]

Self-Aware

[shelterwoodpod]

Demolished June, 1995, 1995, watercolor on paper.

Andrew Wyeth

[shelterwoodpod]

Ghostwatch

Since some sources have pointed to writer Stephen Volk’s GHOSTWATCH (1992, Shudder, On Demand at Prime and YouTube) as the inspiration for LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, I felt compelled to watch it to see for myself. There are clear parallels, particularly in that they share similar dramatic arcs. But they both start from a different hook and diverge in a lot of details. That’s not to deny any influence but simply to put it into perspective. Oddly, GHOSTWATCH is classified as a mockumentary rather than a found-footage film. I suppose what keeps it from being found footage is that it’s purportedly a live telecast. It’s also formatted much more logically than most found footage films.

A BBC News show with actual BBC personalities (presenter Michael Parkinson and married reporters Sarah Greene and Mike Smith) is presenting a live Halloween broadcast about a haunted house, with Greene on the scene with the single mother and her two young daughters living there, Smith fielding phone calls from viewers with their own paranormal experiences to share and Parkinson anchoring the show from the studio alongside a paranormal investigator (Gillian Bevan) who’s been studying the case. Things start out simply, with the family sharing their stories while neighbors comment on the effect the haunting has had on their district. But then little things start happening — strange noises, a wet spot on the floor, falling pictures — until all hell breaks loose.

The program is remarkably effective (so much so some viewers believed it was real, despite disclaimers, and even complained of suffering from PTSD). Using real broadcast personalities helps greatly with verisimilitude. They don’t seem to be acting, even when Smith becomes genuinely concerned for his wife’s safety. And Bevan has captured the inflections of real people not accustomed to public speaking. Her voice keeps trailing off. There’s also a fascinating treatment of gender as Greene naturally falls into a motherly role with the two young girls, their mother (Brid Brennan) fights to protect her daughters and Parkinson attempts to exercise patriarchal authority over all concerned, particularly Bevan, whom he keeps trying to bully into giving concrete answers about her ever-evolving research. Her repeated, “I don’t know” becomes almost a mantra for the show. Volk also gets credit for cleverly constructing the script as if it were a mystery, with neighbors and callers offering pieces of the puzzle to explain what the source of the haunting might be. The result is one of the creepiest 90 minutes of TV you’re likely to see.

[shelterwoodpod]

i just kept spinning and i danced myself to death

[all films are listed in the youtube description]

[shelterwoodpod]

Everything 4, Photo by Anthony Hernandez, 2002-04

[shelterwoodpod]

it's called nuclear family because it feels like radiation poisoning

[shelterwoodpod]

Adriana Varejão, Green Tilework in Live Flesh, 2000 Mixed media on canvas