Snow, tea, and Lovecraft-monsters

It snowed this morning.  Not enough for them to cancel school for my siblings, and not enough for the neighbors to call out of work to dig their buried cars out of their driveway, no car is buried.

Since its cold and I am home for winter break, I figured I'd take this early afternoon to, once again, attempt to play through Anchorhead, a game I have been dying to review on this blog.  Before I get into why I haven't gotten around to that yet, I guess I should tell you a little background information about this game and what not...

I'll start by saying that a lot of my friends like to tease me and tell me that I'm way too 'dated' for this generation, or whatever.  The reason they say this is because they're convinced I should have been my age about 20 years ago due to the fact I've got a huge affinity for 90's dramas about FBI Agents, I'm oddly obsessive when it comes to checking my email, I still call people from landlines, and I really like text-based games.
For those of you who don't know what that is, a text-based game is a video game that uses text and text-input commands, rather than graphics. So it would look something like this (italicized for emphasis):

This would be a piece of the story, something like describing what the

character may be looking at, explaining what lies North, South, East, 

or West, what actions you can do, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

> Here is where you type in a basic command and hit 'enter'

And here is where the command is received and the story continues.

Simple and straight forward, yes?  I really like to play games like that, I find them really fun because you can imagine the scenery and characters and its basically like an interactive book.

Anchorhead, created in the late 1990's, is a text-input based, Lovecraftian horror adventure game.  For those of you who are fans of Lovecraft, Stephen King, or Welcome to Night Vale, this game will probably peak your interest.

The game follows an unnamed female protagonist who recently moved to a small costal New England town (much like most Stephen King books) with her husband, an aspiring writer (once again, so King), to inherit a mansion his very eerie, distant, and now dead family member left him.  There, the protagonist feels very lonely and isolated in a big creepy house which resides in a lonely, gloomy, cold, and rainy town.  Sounds cool right?  Well it gets better.

As if it wasn't unsettling enough that you're alone in an empty unknown place, but you (the protagonist) also happen to uncover an evil that threatens the town that obviously, you have to stop.  Without spoiling what it is, the evil that you have to face is very based off of Lovecraft's stories (hint: think monster-entity like).  The entire game takes place over the course of 2-3 days, and it requires a lot of puzzle solving and exploring.  The reason I relate it to Welcome to Night Vale is because, well, Night Vale itself is like a goofy-Lovecraf type horror, and Anchorhead requires that you explore and get familiar with where you're going and because of that it brings this odd sense of familiarity that I believe you get from keeping up with WTNV.

I guess my explanation of text-based games wasn't needed

The reason I'm not reviewing Anchorhead right now is because I have yet to finish the game, oops.  When I first started playing it in the fall, I was too proud to look up walkthroughs or maps, and it took me ages to finish the first day and I just became annoyed with exploring and not making the story move forward.  So I stopped.

The second time I picked it up, I used a walk through to help me when I got stuck, and I actually made it really far until my friend accidentally closed the window and I lost all the data.  That was so frustrating, I was so mad.

This time around, I say "screw it, I'll use the walkthrough to get through the parts I already solved myself quickly," and hopefully actually finish it.  When I do, since I already made this post, I might make a short review giving it how many stars I think it deserves, a little more about the story, etc.

For those interested in the game, you can play it here (the Wiki image above is the same version I've linked).  The walkthrough I've used/am using can be found here, and here is a map of the game (its a massive file, you've been warned).

Wow, I'm sorry that this post is so text-heavy, but I guess that makes sense based off the content?  Either way, I'm sorry it is a whole lot of reading this time.

Anyway, I'm back and blogging you guys!  If you didn't notice already, I changed the background of my blog to be less distracting (and more fitting with the Scream theme I've got going), let me know what you think!

Now excuse me, I've got tea to drink and a Lovecraft-based creature to stop from destroying the town of Anchorhead! 

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

And now a personal account; "Why I Like Horror Movies"

[A piece I wrote for my Intro to Non-Fiction English class, see end of post for notes!] 

I’m 7 years old.
I’m standing frozen in my kitchen, wide-eyed, with the television remote still in my hand. The screen in front of me dances with images of a bloody-mouthed man beating a police officer to death, leaning over and biting a portion of his face off.
My babysitter rushes into the room. She takes the remote from me, switches off the TV, and hugs me asking if I’m ok. I’m paralyzed with a fear and intrigue that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

The Silence of the Lambs won five out of the seven Oscars it was nominated for in 1992, including ‘Best Actor in Leading Role,’ awarded to Anthony Hopkins, who beat two policemen to death as Hannibal Lector in front of my 7 year old eyes.
More than often I use this bit of information when I have to remind friends and family that not only I find it a work of cinematic genius.

I guess that comes with the territory of being a horror movie fan.

I’m a junior in high school.
My so-called boyfriend says that Hostel was a waste of an hour and a half; he asks why I like such pointless and idiotic movies.
Our relationship only lasts a few months after that. It ends with me dumping him after a large fight over the classic movie Halloween. Or rather, it ends because I want to watch the film in peace and he wants to bring up all of our problems. But I tell everyone that it ends over that film, and everyone believes that I’m obsessive and weird enough to do something like that.

“Don’t you already own that movie?” My roommate freshman year of college asks as I open the packaging to the 2005 gore-fest that is Hostel.
“I did,” I say. She stares at me while I explain that I had to buy a new one because I watched my previous DVD so many times it burned out.
Hostel never won any awards. It is harder for people to understand why I find this one so wonderful, when no academy recognizes it as a cinematic masterpiece, or when a friend risks seeing someone get their eye cut out if they accidentally glance at my laptop screen.
“I watch it when I’m sad,” I tell her. And when I’m happy. Or bored. Or just need background noise. I watch it a lot.

She doesn’t even pretend to understand.

My mother watches me cringe and whimper as the villain in the 1999 Japanese film Audition uses a wire saw around her paralyzed husbands ankle and begins to remove his foot. She makes a disgusted noise and averts her eyes from the television. As she leaves the room she asks me for what seems like the millionth time why I’m so obsessed with watching movies like these. I shrug. “They make me uncomfortable,” I tell her.
She tilts her head in confusion.
“In a good way.” I add on.
She tells me she doesn’t understand, and I tell her its ok, I don’t really either. Its just the underlying fact is that these movies make me happy, and that’s why I can watch them from sunrise to sunset.

“So basically, you’re obsessed with horror movies?” The cute boy asks while we’re hanging out and getting to know one another. “Yeah,” I say. “I find the stories easy to follow and blood spatter fun to watch, I could watch them for days. Are you a fan?”
He tells me he isn’t really, he finds them gross and boring. Plus he doesn’t like the adrenaline rush that comes with being scared. I say that part is my favorite part.
Well that’s a shame, I think, he is really cute.
I think how the lack of interest in horror could make or break a relationship with me, and I silently wish that it wasn’t such a deal breaker.
“But I could always try to be more interested in them,” he offers, breaking my train of thoughts.

It is over a year later, and he is my boyfriend. He asks if I want to see The Evil Dead remake with him in theaters, I say yes. This is better than a marriage proposal.
I smile at him; it’s nice to know that now more than just myself and the academy thinks that The Silence of the Lambs is a cinematic masterpiece.

Notes on this writing:
Hey guys! I figured I'd share this piece with you! It was my first assignment from a creative writing class that I took over the summer, the topic was: Write about an obsession, and what better to write about than my undying love for horror movies?

I don't really have much more to add to this, but I leave you with this question: Are the floating skull dividers too much? I wanted to add dividers/a fun element to my blog, but I'm worried that it might look goofy or not fit with the theme. Let me know what you think! Leave comments below, and constructive criticism is always welcome! And I will see you guys in the next blog post!

"Be afraid, be very afraid."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

First Giveaway!

Hey guys!

So I've been thinking about doing a giveaway since I began this blog, and seeing as I probably wont be as active as I want to be these upcoming weeks, I figured why not do it now?

Keeping to the recent blog posts, I've decided to give you, yes you, somethings I've talked about!

You could win:

1. Your very own copy of Salem's Lot
2. Some handmade horror stickers I've made
3. A Welcome to Night Vale Intern t-shirt with your name on the back!

Really, I don't ask for much in return.  Just link my blog somewhere, or just tell one person who likes horror about it and I'll be happy!

Good luck and happy giveaway!

♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crappy instant noodles, unbearable heat, and vampires -- what more could a girl want?

"I should probably be doing schoolwork..." is what I keep saying to myself as I open up the Blogger tag and wait for my crappy instant udon to warm up.
Instead I'm sitting here contemplating beginning the Japanese horror manga, Uzumaki.

Yes yes, I know I should be more concerned with school, seeing as its the first week and in exactly a year from today I will be done with my B.A.--now thats a scary thought.
Instead I'm going to use the excuse that I'm miserable thanks to the heat, and write my first review (for this blog).  So get off my back, mom.

Let's talk about a book I read this summer, what I call 'fun summer reading,' and what my mother refers to as "dear God you're reading another one of those?  Why can't you read something fun and happy for once?"
Indeed ladies and gents, I'm talking about a Stephen King book.

Now, I'm a huge Stephen King fan.  I've read Carrie, IT, The Shining, 1408, Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Misery...and countless other stories.  So I poked around online looking for recommendations of what to read next and found; READ 'SALEM'S LOT ITS HIS BEST WORK EVER YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
And I went "pfffffft yeah we'll see about that, I mean IT and The Shining were so damn good how can anyone even think something beats that?"

Well...it certainly did.

'Salem's Lot was written by King in 1975, and its about this town in Maine called Jerusalem's Lot.  In this town, there is an old house that sits at the top of the hill and just kind of looms over the town in a very haunting fashion, and much like you're probably expecting, it was the site of gruesome murders and pure evil.
So then this guy Ben Mears comes into town and much like the main male characters of IT, The Shining, 1408, and Misery, he is a writer.  (Hey, I mean, write what you know, right?  No complaints from me.)  He comes to the Lot to write a horror story about the Marsten House on the hill, running from his demons by going to confront his childhood horrors -- never a smart idea.
In the Lot there are some truly amazing characters Mears encounters including; love interest Susan, English teacher Matt Burke, Father Callahan, Dr. Jimmy Cody, and young boy named Mark Petrie.  The book bounces around a bit at the beginning giving you a different character to be for a chapter so you really get a feel for who they are, and trust me, you'll grow to love them.  It also introduces heaps and heaps of characters that just live their daily lives, fleshing out the town and how real it is just a little more.  Great touch in my opinion.

When I said "'Salem's Lot" I'm sure the first image that popped into your head was this:

...or something to that extent.  (No, I have not seen the movie yet.)

Yes in fact, it is a vampire story.  When Ben Mears visits the Lot, he is confronted with unfathomable horror because vampires have taken up residence in the haunted house, and its their plan to spread the vamprism disease like missionaries spreading Christianity.
Hot damn what a plot.
To avoid spoiling it too much for you all, I'll just mention that obviously the plot then becomes Ben Mears and his rag-tag/dream-team of friends trying to stop the head vampire, Barlow, expect a lot of bloodshed.

Whats my opinion of the book?  Oh how nice of you to ask, I'd love to talk about it!
The first few chapters I felt were a little slow, unlike some of his other books.  I was irritated at first because I was expecting to hit the ground running with some horror masterpiece, and instead I got about the first 1/3 of the book just being slow build up to the story.
However, when the book picked up, it really fucking picked up.
When the horror is unleashed on the town you know, and you are terrified for everyone in this town.

My favorite parts of this book were;

1. You care about all of the characters.  Even towards the end with all the bloodshed and death, there were small scenes about characters you hadn't even met meeting their maker, which made it so...upsetting.
2. It became abundantly clear that becoming a vampire is a fate much worse than death.  And its heartbreaking.
3. Its written in a way that makes you think it really could happen.  There's a scene where Ben Mears is helping his friend Matt Burke after the first encounter with a vampire.  Burke wants to call the police and alert the town and keep everyone safe from the threat, but Ben says "no we can't do that, they'll all think we're crazy."  Unlike other horror books and movies, the characters are aware of hard it will be to get people to believe them, which makes it wonderfully realistic.

I could go on and on about this book, trust me.  You can ask the boyfriend, I would read it on the train and get off and be like "oh hey you look great today SO GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK IT WAS HORRIFYING AND AWESOME BLAH BLAH BLAH."  And he would just nod and pretend to care about what I was saying, bless him.

'Salem's Lot can be purchased on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, or even Kindle AZW file for about $8.  But honestly, I'd just run out to Barnes and Nobel and buy their edition of it.  You know, the fancy covers they release for books?  Yeah well, not only is it pretty, but its three books in one, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining.  All books worth reading.

I mean HOT DAMN its pretty.

Someone even made it into a purse that I've been dying to buy.

Take my money, Etsy seller NovelCreations.  Take all of it.

All in all, I'm giving 'Salem's Lot 5/5 stars.

★★★★★

Definitely go pick up a copy like right this second, I highly recommend it. (It may even be my favorite one of his books!)
Alright well, enough blabbing from me. The udon is gone and Catalie is licking the bowl in hopes of getting some flavor, so I will take my leave and read Uzumaki until its time to go out for margaritas with my History major friend.

And so, dear reader, I leave you with this question: Have you read 'Salems's Lot? Or any other Stephen King book for that matter? What did you think and what are some of your favorites? 
Leave your comments below, I'd love to hear them!

"I'll see you in the kitchen with a knife."
♥ the 'real' Tatum Riley