Tag Archives: blog post

Up Next: Murder Most Trivial

Posted on September 20, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I went to work this morning determined to write on breaks and lunch, as well as right before the first buzzer rings.  I usually get to work early.  I used to always write my blog post at that time. Did I do so this morning?  Alas, no.  What the hell happened to me?

However, the news is not all bad.  While I was working, I got a couple of good ideas for my next murder mystery.  I quickly jotted them down when I got a chance.  I was mysteriously unable to write any more, but one does what one can.  Herkimer County Historical Society, beneficiary of the murder mystery, had asked for the premise and title for their Facebook page.  I thought I could manage that much.  This is what I messaged them:

The title of the mystery is “A Trivial Murder.” We’re all here for a taping of the game show, “Who Knows Herkimer History” with our host, Gary “Herk” Henderson. Gary is actually the new host. The original host died under mysterious circumstances, but let us not allow such gloomy thoughts cloud our evening! You should also just ignore those rumors that our returning champion has been given the answers in advance. There’s no scandal here! That journalist is here to do a puff piece, not a muck raking scandal-monger.

Looking over it again, I see where it could be improved.  And improve it, I will!  But not for this blog post.  For one reason, this is Wuss-out Wednesday, and I am only slightly less brain dead than I was yesterday (which I just now realize I should have categorized under “Tired Tuesday”) (another indication of my brain dead condition).  Then again, slightly less is still less.  I bet I’ll have that murder mystery finished in no time!  Can better blog posts be far behind?

 

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Do Antibiotics Make You Stupid?

Posted on September 19, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I admit I have had some lame posts lately, but I do not think I have had one whining about how I JUST CAN’T MAKE A BLOG POST TODAY in a while.  How melodramatic that sounds, especially all in caps.  But do you feel I am actually whining?  I feel more that I am lamenting, poised mid-swoon, with a wrist to my forehead.  Well, at least I amuse myself.

And then I sat here staring at that paragraph, unable to add to it.  I typed in one paragraph that I backspaced out. It was dumb.  In desperation, I went to Facebook and typed in the following:

Oh My God! I just started typing in a blog post and it is the dullest thing ever!

A friend commented asking how I even start. I replied that I just put my fingers on the keys and start typing. Usually once I start I think of things to say.  Today not so much.  What’s that all about, brain?
I think I shall blame this one on my health.  I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and have been on antibiotics since yesterday.  Do antibiotics make you stupid?  Cue unkind remarks about what’s my excuse the rest of the time.  You know, I think I can make this post slightly better with a picture of Nosferatu.

“I don’t know what I’m doing in this blog post.”

Well, that made me feel better, at any rate.  Maybe this blog post isn’t so bad.  At least it might make other bloggers feel better about their posts.  And I can always try to improve tomorrow.

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Just Another Monster Day

Posted on September 18, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

It seems as if I just had a monster day, and looking back (I am not always too lazy to do so), I see I had Mid-Week Monsters last Wednesday.  Well, today it is Monday and I need monsters.  I just changed my Facebook profile picture to the Bride of Frankenstein.  I commented, “When I take a little trouble with hair and make-up, I’m a whole different person!”

This is not the picture I used for my profile, but I love the saying.

Can I just say, sometimes it is difficult to find the picture you want. Oh, quit playing that miniature violin!  Everybody is allowed to complain once in a while.  Perhaps I take a few extra turns.  These things happen.

Scary!

To continue my post, I went to my Media Library and added the next picture that caught my eye.  Some of the older movies made excellent use of shadows.  And it just occurs to me:  lots of people are scared of the dark, but when it is pitch black, at least you can’t see any frightening shadows.  I’m just saying.   Another observation: I seem to have a lot of pictures of Nosferatu.  Some of you already knew that about me.

I’m with you, Boney!

I see by my word count I am over 200 words.  Miller time!  Figuratively speaking, of course.  I am actually sipping seltzer with lemon and feeling fairly virtuous about it.  Will my virtue last?  A little suspense adds interest to my evening.  Happy Monday, everyone.

 

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Sunday Cinema

Posted on September 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I think I am going to change my Sunday feature to Sunday Cinema, because our favorite thing to do on Sunday is to watch movies.  We have been enjoying a few flicks today, and I will list them, with illustrations.

Hugging with eyes open is, of course, movie and TV shorthand for being up to no good.

We DVR’d The Bad Seed some time ago (oh, Sept. 9, according to this poster I found on Facebook) and finally got around to watching it today.  What a disappointment!  We are longtime fans of the 1956 movie with Patty McCormick, although we have problems with that one too.  I may write an entire blog post about it, but, um, not today.

Check out the psycho eyes!

Next Steven suggested we watch Murder on the Orient Express (1974), because yesterday was Agatha Christie’s birthday and today is Lauren Bacall’s.  We have yet to catch the 2017 remake of that. Rats!  This could have been Remake Sunday!  It lacks alliteration, but I like it.

There’s the birthday girl, with another favorite of ours, Albert Finney (I don’t know who the fellow in the background is, although the one cut off is Martin Balsam).

Next I got to pick and I chose Psycho (1960), because it is a Halloween movie.

“We all go a little mad sometimes.”

After Psycho I put on Snapped, but Steven preferred to watch another movie.  He decided to continue the Agatha Christie theme with Witness for the Prosecution (1957).  I am delighted to see this old favorite again.

Two more of my favorites: Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton.

So now I must stop blogging and go back to movie viewing. After all, it is Agatha Christie.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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Getting Ready to Kill!

Posted on September 16, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Just when I thought I was going to have to make a fast, foolish post before getting ready for our show tonight, I checked my email and found pictures!  My friend Matt  took these pictures at last night’s rehearsal.  Now I can talk some more about Donate to Murder.  This will be great!

Donate to Murder, regular readers may recall, is the murder mystery LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, is presenting at the Herkimer Elks Lodge tonight.  I really need to be showering and getting ready, but of course blog posts must be made (or else they are not blog posts).  So here are the pictures and a few brief comments by me.

Now when a woman has a flower in her teeth, they say it’s sexy.

This is Renwick Spaulding, a lover of bugs.  When I gave him a rolling cockroach I just happened to have (a relic of another murder mystery), he immediately adopted it as his best friend, Edward.  Now Edward is my favorite character in the play.  Good playwrights are not resistant to script changes.

Personally, I think plaid is sexy.

My husband, Steven, is also featured as Dudley Turnbull, a lover of dogs but hater of dog poo.  My character, Miss Phoebe Larkspur, cringes when he mentions “poop” instead of saying the dogs “do their business.”  The other lady is Flora Fertenza, a kind of a flower child.

It’s a dramatic moment. Take my word for it.

 

I have a little hostility towards Flora at first.

Yes, one of these people is a murderer.

Here is the whole crew: Phoebe Larkspur, Meryl Barrymore, Flora Fertenza, Harold Greene, Dudley Turnbull, and Renwick Spaulding.

And now I have to jump in the shower.  Crap, I hope I can remember my lines!

 

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Looking for Lame Inspiration

Posted on September 15, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I tried hard to make a “real” post yesterday, because I knew I would be strictly lame today.  Then again, it is Lame Post Friday, and I have been known to post lame even after a whole week of stinkers.  So I will drive on, even though quite frankly, I feel like I got nuthin’.

“Nothing, you say? But you have BLOOD!”

As I often do, I look to Nosferatu for inspiration.  As I typed in the caption, I remembered a quote often repeated and I have no idea who said it: Writing is easy; just sit down and open a vein.  That is probably not even the right quote.  But I get the idea that I am supposed to bleed. Quite frankly, I have almost never found writing to be that painful.  Perhaps that is why I am a silly blogger and not the winner of some prestigious literary award.

I almost put “only a silly blogger,” but I do not feel it is nothing to make a blog post every day, even if many of them are lame.  I can always build on this and write more.  I always intend to.  In the meantime, how about a blog post now.

Since I wrote about Shattered Angel‘s dress rehearsal yesterday, it would be nice if I mentioned Donate to Murder‘s dress rehearsal tonight.  Of course, our murder mystery is by no means as vast an undertaking as Angel, and it lacks Angel‘s historical significance.  However, I expect to entertain a number of people.  We have certainly enjoyed our rehearsals.  If only I had taken some pictures.

Once again, Donate to Murder is to be presented at Herkimer Elks Lodge tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $25 per person and are available at the downstairs bar at the Elks lodge, 124 Mary St., Herkimer NY, or by calling 315-866-1439.

 

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Another Shattered Shout-Out

Posted on September 14, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

This was printed on a post card I sent to a few people.

As I sit here typing in my blog post, the cast and crew of Shattered Angel are at Ilion Little Theatre enjoying their final dress rehearsal. I’m just happy all of them are going to be actually dressed, since my name is in the program under “Costumes.”  Full disclosure:  I personally did very little in outfitting the cast.  I like to think I helped, though.  I like to think I can also help publicize the event with my little blog here.  So here is another shout-out to our play.

Shattered Angel, as you may have read in this space, tells the story of the murder of an area school teacher by one of her students in 1914.  It is a sad story, and a fascinating one, because the defense was not guilty by reason of mental defect, a new idea at the time.   The staging is interesting, too, because although all the action takes place in the courtroom, it is not a straightforward depiction of the trial. Through the use of flashbacks and strategic condensation of testimony and arguments, we get a fuller picture in a shorter time.

The lady in the black dress is not actually in the courtroom, if you see what I mean.

Director Stephen Wagner wrote the script, based on the book Murder of a Herkimer County Teacher: The Shocking 1914 Case of a Vengeful Student by Dennis Webster, and courtroom transcripts.

This is one of my favorite shots.

I stole these pictures from the Herkimer County Historical Society’s Facebook page.  Historian Caryl Hopson took them at rehearsals.  I suppose I should have stayed at dress rehearsal with my Tablet and taken a few pics of my own, but Caryl does such a good job at it.

Once again, performances are Friday and Saturday, Sept. 14, 15 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday Sept. 16 at 2 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20, 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday Sept. 23 at 2 p.m., at Ilion Little Theatre, 13 Remington Ave., Ilion, NY.  For tickets, contact the Historical Society at 315-866-6413.

One more picture I found on Facebook.

 

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Add Monsters and Stir. I Mean, Hit Publish

Posted on September 13, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about some Mid-Week Monsters?  It’s a new feature, for when I forgo Monstrous Monday.  It is, in fact, another Pre-Rehearsal Post (I guess that could be a category, too), because we are soon to leave for rehearsal for Donate to Murder, the murder mystery dinner theatre LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, is presenting at Herkimer Elks this Saturday, Sept. 15.  Steven and I are wearing our costumes, although I do not have pantyhose on (I’m certain my character would wear pantyhose).  Also, I could not find my grandmother’s pearls, which I thought would work for my character (full disclosure: they are not real pearls, but they look nice).  Luckily I have TONS of beads, vintage and otherwise.

What a long first paragraph.  I do babble on, don’t I?  I thought this was going to be a monster post.  Let’s see what I can find.

Not the best depiction of Julia Adams, but a pretty cool poster nonetheless.

Look, I can also include a foreign language lesson.  Sometimes I can so multi-task (although most days I barely manage just to task).  Steven and I just watched Creature from the Black Lagoon on Sunday.  Perhaps you read my blog post in which I mentioned it.  And while we’re visiting foreign countries…

I think this one has better artwork, but I like the lettering in the Spanish version.

And look at me, over 200 words on a Wuss-out Wednesday (I guess this post fits multiple categories).  I do like to include three pictures, so I will pull something from my Media Library.

“Love! Exciting and new!”

I never knew the Creature guest starred on The Love Boat. I suppose he is quite an actor. Perhaps I could use him in a murder mystery sometime.

 

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Yet Another Pre-Rehearsal Post

Posted on September 12, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

My heart is sore.  There, I’ve said it.  I don’t want to go on whining about my ills.  It’s tiresome. People will become bored and impatient or, worse yet, will worry.  Or they might give advice.  Sometimes advice is hard to listen to.  You know it is the right thing to do, but you already knew the right thing to do; you just didn’t do it.  Or it isn’t the right thing to do, but you know they mean well.  Or they are just being officious, and you want to throat punch them.  But I’m sure none of my readers fall into the last category.

One reason I feel wrong about dwelling on my problems is that it is Sept. 11.  I wanted to dig out my TV Journal from 9/11/2001 and share some of the things I wrote at the time.  I was home recovering from a bunion operation and sat glued to the television all day.  What a terrible event.  But I’m too tired and ill to brave the mess we call a library.

I just looked up at the television and saw something about the latest hurricane soon to make landfall.  I feel terrible for everybody in the path of that.  I do appreciate that I am not currently dealing with any severe weather, under the heading of Count Your Blessings.

In the meantime, I have a blog post to make, and I must make it before I head tofirst dress rehearsal for Shattered Angel, being presented by the Herkimer County Historical Society in cooperation with Ilion Little Theatre.  Opening night is Friday. Yikes!  It is Sept. 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 23.  Performances are at 7:30 on the 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22; and 2 p.m. on the 16 and 23. Tickets are $15.  For more information, contact the Historical Society at 315-866-6413.

Tomorrow I have rehearsal for Donate to Murder, the murder mystery LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, is presenting at Herkimer Elks Lodge on Saturday, Sept. 15.  Yikes!  That’s close too, with fewer rehearsals left!  It is dinner theatre with $25 tickets including a turkey dinner by Brian Hess of PK’s Pub.  Yum!  For more information, contact the Elks at 315-866-1439.

I guess I’ll call this a Tired Tuesday post and drive on.  At least I plugged two plays.

 

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Movie Memories on Non-Sequitur Thursday

Posted on September 7, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was sitting here trying to think of what to make my blog post about and thought to myself, “I’ll have my Throwback Thursday early!”  And then I remembered:  it IS Thursday!  I love it when that happens instead of, you know, the opposite.  I wonder what I have in my Media Library that I have not used recently.

I think he likes her.

I was looking for something from my life, but here is a movie almost as old as I am: Mary Poppins (1964).  It is a meaningful movie in my life, actually.  It is the first movie I saw in a theatre.  I had previously seen Goldfinger (ooh, also 1964; I just looked that up) at a drive-in, although I was a little kid and did not pay much attention.  My Mom took all us kids to the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY, to see Mary Poppins.  I was as impressed with the theatre as I was with the movie.  This was also the first movie my husband, Steven, saw in a theatre.  He credits it with beginning his lifelong love of movies.

Do you wonder why I was impressed?

This is the inside of the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY.  Magnificent, no?

I don’t know what he’s looking at, but she’s giving him the side-eye.

I add this picture to make this more of a Non-Sequitur Thursday.  However, I don’t know how much of a non sequitur it is, because it is another meaningful movie.  The Brain That Wouldn’t Die  (1962) is one of my favorite movies of the cheesy variety.  But the way it gets here is kind of random:  I downloaded the picture of the Capitol.  When I went to put it here, I transposed two numbers and almost put in this one instead.  I fixed the error, then said, “Hey!”

Now there’s a spray tan!

Since I mentioned Goldfinger, I looked for a picture of that, too.  I did not even realize it was Goldfinger I had seen at the drive-in till years later.  I just remember during one of the few moments where I was watching the movie, my father told me that a guy had killed a girl and spray-painted her gold.  I thought it was an odd thing to do but figured I had not been paying enough attention for it to make sense.  I’m thinking Goldfinger was the only movie where that happened, although I daresay I could be mistaken.

So here is my silly Thursday post.  Full disclosure:  I’ll probably get even sillier tomorrow.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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