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Thursday, October 27, 2005
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Haunted Web
Since Hallowe'en is just around the corner I thought it would be fun to poke around the 'Net and find some spooky websites to visit to get myself in the mood. Unfortunately doing a Google on "Haunted House" or something similar turns up cheesy, "How to make your own haunted house!" type sites of which there are many.
One site I do visit frequently and have mentioned here before is Snopes.com. Snopes has an excellent horror section full of tales of the supernatural, hauntings, gore galore and much more. Very much worth a visit.
 I've always been interested in the paranormal - not so much as someone who's a "true believer" or anything, but as someone who likes a good scare. There's something about the adrenaline rush you get when you're properly creeped out that I just love. I remember reading a ghost book that mentioned the Boreley Rectory as the most haunted place in Great Britain. It was demolished in 1944, but the site apparently remains haunted to this day. Along that vein, here is a website with a breakdown of some of the thousands of haunted places around GB and Ireland: Haunted Britain.
Now, in order to creep myself out properly in preparation for the IndyKnow investigation into our own Grand Theater, I watched 2 8 hour marathons of, "Scariest Places on Earth." On this show, hapless families set off for what they think is a grand adventure - most hoping to confirm their beliefs regarding the existence of ghosts - and they spend the night in places like Chillingham Castle in England, or Vlad Tepes (AKA Dracula) Castle in Transylvania. What they discover is far more than they bargained for. I love this show.
This awesome site illustrates the ins and outs of Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction. They've got the history, how the effects are done, sound loops and more - well worth the visit - but if you'd rather not spoil the magic, then don't go.
For a general, all-things-haunted website, I found one called Ghost Haunts that was fun to go through. They have ghostly photos, ghost stories, haunted places to check out, and links to other spooky sites.
Finally, no search for the scary would be complete without a stop at Fangoria. It's your one-stop shop for the gory, the scary, the latest horror movie scoops out of Hollywood and more.
Happy All Hallows Eve everyone.
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Monday, October 17, 2005
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Got Beer?
I'm no beer connoisseur. In fact, I hate the stuff. Well, maybe hate is a strong word. I never could get the hang of beer. Back in high school when everyone else was doing the underage drinking thing, I didn't want to look like a douche so I'd secretly dump out my Budweiser and fill it with soda.
I never managed to develop a taste for it despite many attempts by my cousin to educate my palette with a wide variety of different brews.
 I've tried everything from Corona to a Hefewiezen. Bock to Belgian. I've even had my very own beer brewed for me as a birthday present (Called the 12th of Maibock - isn't that cute?) None of it did much for me although I did learn quite a bit about brewing and different styles. I guess growing up with a dad who drank Coors and Bud being the beer of choice for underage drinnkers everywhere, I never realized how much work goes into brewing.
So why the hell am I talking about beer here? Because I wanted to highlight my cousin's website, BeerMe.com.
BeerMe could quite possibly be the largest source of beer and brewery info on the Net. Rick has catalogued and rated almost 18,000 beers and has nearly 10,000 brewpubs and breweries listed. (The site used to be called 'Beerismylife.com' ut someone made him change it. But beer really is his life :) )
So if you love beer, are interested in brewing, or want to know where the nearest brewpub is, check out Rick's site :) And should you ever want to try his stuff, Rick works for Gottburg Brewery in Columbus, Nebraska. Stop by and tell him I sent you :)
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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
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Winchester Mysteries
 I'm from Monterey, and if you're from Monterey then you know all about the Winchester Mystery House in San Francisco. It was always one of my favourite "touristy" things to do whenever we had visitors out from Nebbyland.
Here's an chunk of history from the Winchester house wikipedia entry for some background if you are unfamiliary with this cool place:
The Winchester Mystery House began construction in 1884, and was financed and built by Sarah L. Winchester, the heiress of the man who invented and manufactured the Winchester rifle. Construction continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, until her death 38 years later in 1922.
 Sarah had lost her husband and also her only child, a daughter, who died in infancy 15 years earlier. Deeply grieved and seeking solace, she consulted a spiritualist on the advice of a friend. Known as the Boston Medium by those who follow this mystery, the medium, among other things, told her that there was a curse upon the Winchester family because of the guns that they manufactured which had taken so many lives. She told Sarah, "Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance."
The direction from the medium is the reason she built her house in such a haphazard fashion and some believe it was to distract the spirits who were seeking her. She was reported to have slept in a different room each night for some time.
The house began as a simple farmhouse that Sarah purchased from a local doctor. From those uhmble beginnings the mansion grew to 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two ballrooms, two basements and three elevators. There are secret passages and stairways, and doors and halls that lead nowhere. The house also has many conveniences that were rarely found at the time of its construction, including steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights and a hot shower from indoor plumbing.
 Sounds pretty cool eh? Well the reason for this long post is that I stumbled onto a blog by a guy who is/was a tour guide at the mansion and he's publishing his own photos from around the estate - some of which have never been seen by the public. It's pretty neat :)
You can also check out the official site for the Mystery House.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
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Famous Bloggers
It's fun to stumble onto a celebrity blog and get a brief glimpse into their heads. I've a few that I check now and then:
David Duchovney's blog is not a bad read but he hasn't posted in a long time and I believe this one was mainly for him to tout his last movie which didn't do very well.
Then there's Moby. A friend of mine is a total nut for Moby and used to read his blog religiously. Then he started getting political and going off on rants until one day she got bored of it and she stopped going. But if you don't mind that sort of thing then check out his blog.
I've already mentioned Wil Wheaton, but he's famous, so he gets another mention. Plus he writes so well he deserves all the plugs I can give him.
Rosie O'Donnell blogs pretty regularly. She blogs in prose though so if you want to read goofy celebrity poetry, check Rosie out.
My favourite humourist, Dave Barry, has a fun blog. Mostly he just posts links to weird news which, while fun, can get tedious. I love my Dave Barry columns, but I only check his blog once in a blue moon.
The Boy Who Heard Music is a new-ish blog written by Pete Townshend (yes, THAT Pete Townshend.) I didn't know this but in addition to his rock legend status, he's a fine writer as well. It looks like this blog by him is a new story.
So there's a few of the famous who can be found online on a regular basis (well, apart from David anyway.)
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Saturday, October 01, 2005
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NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel Writing Month. To celebrate this, for the past few years there has been a sort of... well it's not exactly a contest so much as a test of endurance. It's called NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month.)
If you visit NaNoWriMo.org (as of this writing, the site is down - I'm guessing it's because today is the first day of signup and the traffic crashed the site. Keep checking it though, it'll be back) you'll find out a bit more about it. But the long and short of it is you attempt to write a novel at least 50,000 words in length in one month.
Of course, how good is a novel that's just cranked out like that? Depends on the writer. But quality is not the goal. Quality can come later. For me, the purpose of it is just to prove to yourself that you can do it.
I want to write a novel someday. I've wanted to do it for years and I've got drawerfuls of attempts at it. Outlines, character sketches, brief ideas for stories. But nothing ever worked out.
Last year I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time because I was intrigued by the idea of it. The idea of a deadline and having to make myself writer a certain amount every day was appealing. I thought it would be the kick in the ass I needed to do it. Instead I failed. I got up to around 6,000 words and then life intruded and time ran out. I was pissed at myself but I think I took it out on NaNo and said I'd never do it again.
I've had a year to mellow out - but more importantly, I've come up with an idea for it that actually appeals to me. So I'm going to try again. I'm going to blog it as I go like I did last year.
Wish me luck.
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GetIndyKnow.com blogs are collections of short, frequently updated posts by members of the Grand Island community and Nebraska natives. Bloggers, and comment posters, are solely responsible for what they say.
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Steve's Weird House
