Fun Stereotypes.

In response to my last post I thought I would make a list of stereotypically gothy things that I enjoy/do. Not in a 'please stamp my goth-card' kind of way but more in a poking fun at myself kind of way! One of the things that I have really learned over time is that it is important to be able to laugh at yourself. 

1) Vampires. Good lord do I like vampires. The Lost Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Interview with the Vampire, Blade, Nosferatu, Dracula etc. Love em all. 

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2) My room is plum and my bed-sheets are black satin. Because I think I'm a vampire.

3) I dye my hair black but only because other colours are far too time-consuming to maintain!

4) I love going to graveyards. I find them so peaceful and beautiful. There are generally no unpleasant young folks hanging around in them which is a major bonus where I live. 

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5) I adore Gothic architecture! I love the drama and elegance of gothic-style cathedrals. So inspiring.

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6) I pick things up when I'm shopping only to sigh and say 'it'd look better if it was black'. Don't lie. You do it too ;)

7) I love bats and cats! 

8) I love the works of Tim Burton, I think it's why I have a slight obsession with stripes. 

What kinds of stereotypically goth things do you enjoy? 

Rebecca. x

:)

Gothic Confessions.

A whole ago I was watching a video by the lovely Kill Natalie of Youtube. In the video she discussed some of her interests which are not considered terribly gothy. If I recall correctly I also read some posts by bloggers who did something similar!

I thought it would be fun to share some non gothy interests and pursuits with you all.

1) I have a serious weakness for 90's boy bands such as Take That and Boyzone. I grew up with that kind of music!  

2) HELLO KITTY!!

3) I wear Wellington boots to work with no make-up and look about as goth as a turnip. I also couldn't care less! I work with animals so eyeliner and lace would be slightly amiss in my line of work. :) I could probably make an effort and wear some gothy band tee's and hoodies but I'm just not pushed about appearing goth for work. A young Rebecca would be shocked at such a statement!! :) 

4) I am perfectly happy to leave the house with no make-up whatsoever, not even a hint of mascara. I generally let my clothes do the talking!

5)I have a huge fear of spiders. Love bats. HATE spiders. I could never wear spider jewellry. Arghhh.

6)I enjoy Marylin Manson and HIM but just cannot seem to get into Siouxsie and the Banshees!

7) This song. Not the band. The song. 

8) I prefer really early mornings to late nights! 

9) I'm not that keen on skulls. I have one cool skull t-shirt but I like it because it's fishnetty and see through! Some skull prints are cute though.

10) I love metal. Children of Bodom are one of my all-time favorite bands! 

What are your  gothic confessions? ;)

Rebecca. x

Irish Mythology Post: The Dullahan

Time for another instalment of Irish mythology me thinks. For this post I chose to write about the Irish version of the headless horseman, I didn't even know we had one until I started researching this kind of thing for my blog. I love learning about all these hardcore myths and legends with you guys! 

The Dullahan is a type of Irish faerie who sits headless atop a fire-breathing black stallion. He carries his head under one arm and a whip made from a human spinal cord in the other. He holds his grinning head up high to allow him to see across vast distances and he sometimes uses it as a lantern to light up the blackest of nights .

Image labelled for resue. Click for source.
(Ok so not directly realated to The Dullahan but close enough,
had a hard time finding licensed images for this one! :) )

If you are unfortunate enough to gaze upon The Dullahan then you should expect a bucket of blood to be cast upon your face. Sometimes The Dullahan renders onlookers blind in one eye as punishment for catching sight of him. The Dullahan is the harbringer of death and sucks the souls from humans after calling their name out. All locks, doors and gates open of their own accord as The Dullahan approaches and cannot be closed in his presence. 

The Dullahan has also been known to command a silent black coach headed by six black horses, a coach which travels so fast that it sets the road beneath it alight. 

Oddly this faerie has a fear of gold, one small gold coin is enough to ward The Dullahan away. The question is, for how long?

Miaow. x

The Virgin Prunes!

Hey guys and hello to my new followers, I hope you are all having a lovely 2012 thus far! For this post I decided to do a short profile piece on an Irish gothic rock band called The Virgin Prunes. Enjoy!

The Virgin Prunes formed in 1977 in Dublin. The band began as a group of young'uns with an interest in music, one of whom was Paul Hewson- i.e. Bono of U2 fame. (Obviously Hewson didn't last long in the band, he went on to form U2). When explaining the band's motivation Gavin Friday explains that 'we didn't want to stand around at the shops, drink cider and play football. We wanted more from our lives'. Cool buzz! 

Friday describes growing up in Dublin in the 1970's : 'We were like a Third World Country. If you go back to parts of the Eastern bloc of Europe now, that's what Dublin was like in the 60's and 70's. Grey, dull, mass unemployment and complete poverty. Music became a lifeline to escape for kids. Punk gave you a license to form a band with just an attitude. I turned 16 when punk kicked in and had plenty of attitude' 

The band quote David Bowie and Joy Division as being highly influential on their work. They had a terribly unfortunate performance one time during which a band members's trousers split to reveal an embarrassing amount of... em... manhood!! They were actually supporting The Clash at the time who were less than impressed!

During the 1980's the band began to disintegrate and eventually Gavin Friday left the band in 1989. The remaining members continued playing under the name of 'The Prunes' until they split in 1990. 

Below are some songs of theirs for your listening pleasure! :)

Until next time!

Miaow

Batty Bats!

Labelled for reuse. Click for source. 

I recently acquired a book about bats and I thought it would be fun to share some facts about these awesome little critters with you all. After all, what Goth worth their salt doesn't love bats even a little bit! ;)

Onto the factoids! (Sorry if this is a long post...)

• Bats are the world's only flying mammals.
• The world's smallest species of bat is the Kitti's Hog Nosed Bat. It's around 1.1 to 1.3 inches in length and is thus often referred to as the Bumblebee Bat! These little guys weigh around the same as a penney.
• The world's largest bat is the Gigantic Flying Fox. These bats have an average wingspan of 1.5 meters and can weigh over two pounds.
• Some (thanks Kitty!) bats use echolocation to read their surroundings rather than their eyes. They emit a squeak which echoes off an object and bounces back to the bat, thus giving them an image of the object. They can tell the size, shape, texture, speed and direction of an object using echolocation. When they hone in on prey, they can emit over 200 of these squeaks in a second!
• Some bats can detect objects as thin as a human hair using echolocation.
• Some moths have developed a type of defence mechanism which 'jams' a bat's echolocation. (Ok more a fact about moths than bats but I though it was cool! )

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• Bats are more closely related to humans than they are to rodents, despite what a lot of people think.
• They are actually very important in ecological and even economic terms. For example over 30% of tree  species on the Pacific islands are pollinated or have their seeds spread  by bats. Some plants which generate millions of dollars per year for some countries require bats for their pollination and seed dispersal! (I can't get that sentence to sound right! Oh well.)
• Bats are highly intelligent, clean and are capable of being trained in as little as two hours to respond to hand signals.
• Vampire bats do ingest blood but they lick rather than suck blood from their prey. They have been known to feed from humans but mostly prey upon livestock. 

I hope you enjoyed this post guys, thanks for reading and a happy New Year to you all!

Miaow. x