World Goth Day 2013

Today is World Goth Day.

So to all you black clad children of the night, I raise my Snake Bite & Black in your direction, and join in with a global Gothic two-step to some classic tunes….

Below is some of the FAQ from the official World Goth Day Website

WHAT IS WORLD GOTH DAY?

Goth Day is exactlywhat it says on the wrapper-a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate it’s own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world.

WHY MAY 22ND?

Frankly, if there wasn’t an occasion on the 22nd of May, that day would just sit around on your calendar not earning its keep & generally freeloading off the other dates…

NOTE: It’s understood that May 22nd might not be a convenient date for everyone to celebrate Goth Day (let’s face it; Wednesdays are a ghost-ship for any event at the best of times), so it’s more of a guideline than a hard & fast rule. Most good events happen on a weekend, but we’ll cross that bridge as the years go by.

So far we have Mother’s Day, Fathers’ Day, Christmas, all manner of religious holidays, some of you may even have special annual celebrations for your pets. It’s only fair that Goths get to have a day of their own too…

BUT DON’T GOTHS MOSTLY TEND TO SHY AWAY FROM THE LIMELIGHT (OR FOR THAT MATTER, MOST FORMS OF LIGHT)?

Yes. But there are quite a few Goths who have fought damn hard to retain their identity despite peer pressure, family pressure and indeed, any pressure to conform. And if you’ve gone to all that trouble to preserve what you believe is the ‘real you’, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to shine for a day?

ISN’T HALLOWEEN A BETTER TIME TO HAVE GOTH DAY?

I suppose it is. As long as you want to share it with half the world who think it’ll be cool to wear black for a day just so they can look ‘spooky’, and completely miss the point after you’ve gone to all that effort to look that good all year round…

 

World Goth Day 2012

Today is World Goth Day.

So to all you black clad children of the night, I raise my Snake Bite & Black in your direction, and join in with a global Gothic two-step to some classic tunes….

Below is some of the FAQ from the official World Goth Day Website

WHAT IS WORLD GOTH DAY?

Goth Day is exactlywhat it says on the wrapper-a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate it’s own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world.

WHY MAY 22ND?

Frankly, if there wasn’t an occasion on the 22nd of May, that day would just sit around on your calendar not earning its keep & generally freeloading off the other dates…

NOTE: It’s understood that May 22nd might not be a convenient date for everyone to celebrate Goth Day (let’s face it; Wednesdays are a ghost-ship for any event at the best of times), so it’s more of a guideline than a hard & fast rule. Most good events happen on a weekend, but we’ll cross that bridge as the years go by.

So far we have Mother’s Day, Fathers’ Day, Christmas, all manner of religious holidays, some of you may even have special annual celebrations for your pets. It’s only fair that Goths get to have a day of their own too…

BUT DON’T GOTHS MOSTLY TEND TO SHY AWAY FROM THE LIMELIGHT (OR FOR THAT MATTER, MOST FORMS OF LIGHT)?

Yes. But there are quite a few Goths who have fought damn hard to retain their identity despite peer pressure, family pressure and indeed, any pressure to conform. And if you’ve gone to all that trouble to preserve what you believe is the ‘real you’, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to shine for a day?

ISN’T HALLOWEEN A BETTER TIME TO HAVE GOTH DAY?

I suppose it is. As long as you want to share it with half the world who think it’ll be cool to wear black for a day just so they can look ‘spooky’, and completely miss the point after you’ve gone to all that effort to look that good all year round…

 

World Goth Day 2011

Today is World Goth Day. And this year as an odd coincidence it comes the day after the end of the world, So since we all survived the end of the world, lets celebrate with some nice Gothic music.

So to all you black clad children of the night, I raise my Snake Bite & Black in your direction, and join in with a global Gothic two-step to some classic tunes….

Below is some of the FAQ from the official World Goth Day Website

WHAT IS WORLD GOTH DAY?

Goth Day is exactlywhat it says on the wrapper-a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate it’s own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world.

WHY MAY 22ND?

Frankly, if there wasn’t an occasion on the 22nd of May, that day would just sit around on your calendar not earning its keep & generally freeloading off the other dates…

NOTE: It’s understood that May 22nd might not be a convenient date for everyone to celebrate Goth Day (let’s face it; Wednesdays are a ghost-ship for any event at the best of times), so it’s more of a guideline than a hard & fast rule. Most good events happen on a weekend, but we’ll cross that bridge as the years go by.

So far we have Mother’s Day, Fathers’ Day, Christmas, all manner of religious holidays, some of you may even have special annual celebrations for your pets. It’s only fair that Goths get to have a day of their own too…

BUT DON’T GOTHS MOSTLY TEND TO SHY AWAY FROM THE LIMELIGHT (OR FOR THAT MATTER, MOST FORMS OF LIGHT)?

Yes. But there are quite a few Goths who have fought damn hard to retain their identity despite peer pressure, family pressure and indeed, any pressure to conform. And if you’ve gone to all that trouble to preserve what you believe is the ‘real you’, don’t you think you owe it to yourself to shine for a day?

ISN’T HALLOWEEN A BETTER TIME TO HAVE GOTH DAY?

I suppose it is. As long as you want to share it with half the world who think it’ll be cool to wear black for a day just so they can look ‘spooky’, and completely miss the point after you’ve gone to all that effort to look that good all year round…

 

Crash & Burn… The Wingman Chronicles

I was talking to a friend recently, and for some reason I can not recall the conversation drifted to pulling, Helping friends pull, and things you can do. It was one of them weird conversations that just seem to jump from tangent to tangent with not visible pattern.

During this part of the conversation I pointed out that I’d never been any good at being a WingMan. In my mind, I see great ways to help the guy get the person he wants, there’s just some cosmic force that always takes my great plans and twists them slightly so they are doomed to fail. To prove my point I gave the following story as an example, and I’ve decided to share it with you dear reader.

I leaned against the wall enjoying the loud music that was blasting out from the several walls of speakers set about the room. I had a cold beer in my hand, and there was nothing I needed to be doing for a while, so I could take a minute to just enjoy the moment and the beer. An elbow banging into my side interrupted my contemplation of the girl dancing in front of me.  “WOW!” a voice said in time with the elbow. I looked at the guy standing next to me as he pointed across the dance floor to a rather cute goth girl dancing on her own on the opposite side to us. “WOW!” he said again, “Have you ever seen someone so awesome?”

I should really set the scene. It helps with the general idea of what happened, and how it all came about if I explain a few things first. I also think that the possibly high alcohol content in my blood may help my defence. “Well it can’t hurt right?

University exam season had just finished, and some friends of mine from Aberystwyth Uni were throwing a “end of exams, plus Triple Birthday Party!” Party. My last exam had been early that morning, and I’d shot straight from the exam down to Aberystwyth to help set up the room ready for the party.  We had got the use of a pub’s basement area for the night, It was a large room, with a dance floor, seating area, and chill out area. It was perfect for a student party.

I’d had a couple of cold beers with the DJ, as we set up his equipment, the speakers, and tested it all out. Its thirsty work you know, lugging about all that equipment, running out cables, getting it all set up just right. My main role of the evening was to be door man checking tickets at the start of the evening, then a bit of DJing to give the main DJ a break. (Beer Count: 2 pints during setup)

One of my friends, who was also one of the three people celebrating their birthday at the party had her sixteen year old brother up visiting for the party. It was his first time at such a party, since they came from a small welsh village, and as he’d met me a few times while I’d been visiting his sister, he was spending the evening hanging out with me. This was handy since he was too young to get served, I was getting him a drink in my round, then going to bar with his money for his round. (Beer Count: 5 or 6 pints). A couple of hours into the party, one of the other “Birthday People” and myself decided the ration of “hot girls” to everyone else was a bit on the low side and something needed doing about it. That something was a quick pub crawl around Aberystwyth handing out tickets to every cute, or interesting person we met on the way. (Beer Count: Well and truly unknown) . I’d not long got back to the party, got a round in and was enjoying my drink when my friends brother spotted the to quote “girl of his dreams“.

“She does look interesting. You want to meet her?” I grabbed his shoulder and dragged him with me across the dance floor, ignoring his mumbled objections and the rising tone of panic in his voice. She stopped dancing as I came to a stop in front of her, I introduced myself, my tongue tied companion, and asked her name. Introductions been done, I mentally took a step back and let him make his move. I waited, and waited, and slowly realised I may have to do more work in my self appointed role of WingMan!

‘ok, this is not going well’ I thought, and asked “Drinks?”. “err yes, err its my round I think, errr do you want a drink?” he nervously asked her, ‘YES!’ I shouted in my mind, ‘its a start, he’s offering her a drink’. I quickly asked what everyone wanted, and wandered off to the bar slowly to give them a chance to talk… When I returned with the drinks, they were just standing there not speaking ‘Rats! I need to do something’.

The something I decided to do was to relocate the three of us to some comfortable seats to the side of the dance floor where it was quieter and easier to talk. ‘WOW, that’s a brilliant idea’ I thought to myself in response to the suggestion my mind had just given me to help break the ice. “Hold my drink for a minute will you?” I asked her, “I’ll be right back”. I looked about for the guy I’d done the pub craw with, and wandered over to him. “Hi Dave, You got that purity test on you?”

While we had been on our pub crawl handing out tickets, we had made a side stop at a computer lab and printed out a couple of copies of the 500Q purity test for fun and games at the party. Now my mind’s suggestion had been to grab a copy of the test, and convince the girl to sit it. This should give information of how easy she was, what she had done, what she was willing to do, and create many openings for flirting. “What could go wrong?” What indeed.

A short while later, and she’s sat in between us sitting the test. She is not hiding her answers so its easy to see what she has done, not done, and willing to do. ‘USE IT AS AN OPENING’ I’m shouting in my mind to the lad on the other side of her, ‘YOU ARE MISSING A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!!! DO SOMETHING’. I sigh, this is not working, so I try coughing and pointing to her results, I try miming what he should say to her.”So you never done that?” I ask, “Really? never”. I wiggle my eyebrows at him, and point at her with my eyes for him to offer to rectify the situation. ‘SIGH’.

A short time later as she was nearing the final few questions, I grew desperate. His window of opportunity was closing, and getting smaller and smaller. I had to act, and act fast. I leaned across the girl sliding under her arms so I could still see the paper she was using to mark her scores. With my head resting in her lap, I looked up at my friends brother, “You idiot. She’s almost finished and you’re missing your chance” He just growled at me, ‘Humm maybe he didn’t understand me, I’ll try again’ “Look, she’s just marked she’s never done that, its a perfect time to ask her about it, you could even offer to help her rectify the situation” He growled more. “Come one, the point of the purity test is to laugh at those with the highest score, and see how easy people are for the end of the night.” He looked at me with hate in his eyes. “Shit, you really never done that but want to?” I asked her in shock at her latest answer. She just patted me on the head. He muttered and looked away.

It was at that point I decided the situation was not going to get better with any amount of help, so I stopped helping. We laughed and joked about the test, and the questions for a bit. All the while with my friends brother just sulking, then I was called away to cover the music for a while, leaving them alone.  As I was playing some music, I spotted they were just sitting there not talking, then after a while she got up and walked off to dance. And that was the end of that.

Personally I think I created an unbelievable amount of once in a lifetime openings for the lad. But maybe I was wrong, and its truly just another example of my inability to play the role of the WingMan.

Attack of the Deadly Dancers

This weekend I had a meeting with a representative of a local troupe of Belly Dancers (OI! get your mind out the gutter, I was not booking them for a private showing!) I was there in the guise of a possible “consultant“.belly-dancer

Now I can imagine lots of good consultant roles in relationship to belly dancing, for example :- Checking things shimmy as they are supposed to, Making sure the costumes do not cover too much up, and a load of other sexist stuff I could come up with but will resist, (Which considering the consultant request is a wise choice).

The consultant role they wanted from me was that of “Escrima Instructor.” Yes teaching them Filipino Martial Art Stick Fighting. This was not due to my first thought of keeping the viewers back, or dealing with any amorous fans.  NO! they are considering incorporating it into their dance routine.  Apparently there is a school of belly dance that uses sticks as part of the show, and these girls decided if they were going to do that then they should do it somewhat special.

So as a conscientious kind of instructor, If I agree to teach these girls escrima then i really need to know roughly what kind of styles they need to learn. So I believe some research is needed. For this reason I may be slow replying to people for the next week or so as I force myself to watch hours of videos of scantily clad women shimmy and dance. Its a hard life but someone has to do it!

Bite Me.

Just a quick advert for “bite me” magazine.

Figured I’d be nice and give them a small bit of advertising since I just got some free copies of their great magazine in the post.

Oh, they also have great taste, I am mentioned in one of the magazines they sent!.

Sometimes good things happen…

[Start Email Quote]
hello
I publish a vampire magazine and wonder if you would like me to send you a copy to feature on your site?
[End Quote]

Having no idea who these people were, I did the sensible thing of emailing back my home address, and less than a week later I get a nice package in the post… So, if you are into anything Goth, alternative, spooky, horror, victorian, etc. Then I recommend reading this great magazine…

Now I just have to write a review for a webpage and try and blag some more free stuff…