Month: September 2016

Edgar Allan Poe’s Transmedia Exercise “Horoscope” #PoePartyFTW

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

This week’s theme for the Poe Party Transmedia exercise is “horoscope” and I decided to give the ravens a bit of a break. I hope you enjoy this little addition.

With a psychic on the way, Balt and Phil hopped back into Ed’s study. They had hoped to have a birds’ eye view of the seance, but with all the authors, plus Lenore, moving around they thought it best to stay out of the way. As they moved through the darkness, Balt managed to find a match, and with a bit of beak work, he and Phil managed to relight the candle on the nearby desk.

“Now what’re we going to do Balt? We can’t leave the study until the psychic’s gone and it’s not like we can sneak back outside from here.”

“I guess we just pass the time until we can wing our way out of here. Let me see here…oh hey here’s a newspaper.”

“Didn’t you go to the bathroom upstairs?”

“Sigh, birdbrain, I was going to suggest we read the paper, not use it as lining. Look, it’s turned toward the horoscopes, maybe we can do some mystic mystery solving of our own.”

With that the two birds perched over the paper and tried to gather some information from the power of the stars.

Aquarius (Jan 20th-Feb 18th ):

Okay, so things are going to get like super cray. You’ll look totes amaze at a party and even meet a brand new bae, but your Guy, I mean guy is going to make a surprising appearance. Be chill girl, you got this! Cause hey you got that paranormal power keeping you floating along tonight.

 Leo (July 23rd – Aug 22nd):

Try and find the joy in the little things tonight. Enjoy the new adventures you and your feathered friend have found in an unexpected place. Don’t fluff yourself up, just relax. Oh and look out for your left wing later.
Pisces (Feb 19th –March 20th ):

Keep your feathers unruffled by the gruff pecks and pokes from your bird brother. No matter what you think, he’s having a great time sneaking around with you. Oh remember to duck.

 Virgo (Aug 23rd – Sept 22nd):

It’s going to be an interesting evening for Virgos. You might find yourself red in the face, shocked by an unexpected turn of a knob, or stabbed in the back by an unknown associate. Some Virgos may also find themselves finding love in unexpected high places.
Aries (March 21st – April 19th ):

Surprisingly you are spending the night at home reading a good book. You were hoping to get invited to a dinner party, but it looks like you might be safer snuggled up on the couch. Though maybe avoid that pad thai in the back of the fridge, it will make your night a whole lot less fun.

 Libra (Sept 23rd– Oct 22nd ):

You’ll find yourself bonding with new friends against a common enemy. Some Virgos though will be dealing with unwanted attentions from men, while others will be able to provide fierce commentary in the face of frightening events.
Taurus (April 20th – May 20th ):

You have been keeping some secrets about a gentleman from your past, but you won’t be able to keep that connection hidden for long. Don’t go Russian, umm, rushing into any inconvenient situations. You won’t want to be tied up when things get dangerous.

 Scorpio (Oct 23rd – Nov 21st ):

Feel free to imbibe in your favorite libation and really enjoy yourself tonight. You’ll find yourself being axed, well asked, some very difficult questions, but try not to let that get you down.
Gemini (May 21st – June 20th ):

You’ll spend tonight writing fanfic and binging seasons of your favorite detective drama. A number of your friends will be busy tonight, but don’t worry Mrs. Hudson whipped up some snacks to see you through the night.

 Sagittarius (Nov 22nd– Dec 21st):

Your outfit may be critiqued rather harshly, but try and enjoy yourself as best you can. You may need some cough drops or extra mustache glue, depending on how your evening is going. If you are feeling ignored, don’t worry, blending in just might help you make it through the night.
Cancer ( June 21st – July 22nd ):

You’ll finally get to share your thoughts on Spanish sunsets with a beautiful woman, but this won’t really be the best night for pick-up lines. Keep an eye out for unexpected party supplies, but maybe try and be knife, I mean nice and share your finds with those around you.

 Capricorn ( Dec 22nd– Jan 19th):

Remember when you mentioned throwing a party? Yeah, you probably should have background checked your guests and upped your insurance before you invited all these people over. Also, if you survive the night, you need to get more raven feed.

Can you guess which authors are which star signs? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter, @kleffnotes. Find me on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and I run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

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Have You Seen This Carmilla Swag?

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ 1 Comment

Hi Internet People,

With Carmilla dropping Act II of Season Three tomorrow I thought I’d just take some time to share some really cool swag that I just found out existed. Now I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with the official Carmilla store. If you aren’t you should definitely check it out right now. They have amazing things including t-shirts, hoodies, posters, and even snapbacks, based on the series. I may have splurged a bit before this season started and ordered some cool swag for myself. I can say that the t-shirts are comfy and the hoodies are super warm. They also have mugs, but I’m using mine for decoration right now because I’m terrified I’ll mess up the print on it. They just added brand new Season Three products that showcase the fabulous poster too.

I recently found out that there is also Carmilla jewelry. This stuff is super fancy and also super attractive. They have necklaces and rings that reference different things from over the course of the series. They also have the really cool Summer Society necklace that appeared in the image for one of Mel’s Transmissions from the Pit podcasts. I’m still very curious to see if that crossbow earring shows up there. I really like the Hastur ring, but honestly I like all of it.

Have fun perusing the sites today and I look forward to live tweeting the episode drop with you tomorrow!

Find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and I run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

But Seriously, We Didn’t Think The Kid Was the Anti-Christ Why?

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

I have mentioned previously that I’ve been watching Salem Season Two. I’m still loving Lucy Lawless, but I’m a touch confused by how no one thought the devil was in Baby John this entire time. Mary was apparently super blinded by maternal love, because that kid never acted okay ever. Even when they revealed he was messed up in demonic evil, it really wasn’t surprising.

Alright so he killed a dove because it reminded him of his mother, which is immediately a red flag. Your son should not kill something that he relates to you, that’s like how to avoid matricide 101. Then when Mary went into his locked room she found his bed completely full of dead crows. The birds were literally flinging themselves at his window to try and get to him. The appearance of tons of black birds anywhere near your child should be a tip off that maybe something is up. Then the fact that he collected all their corpses and piled them up in his bed just because seems a very clear sign that he is not alright.

What bothers me even more is that I am trying to figure out if he slept with those bird bodies and no one noticed. Tituba was the only person in seemingly constant contact with Baby John and I think she would pick up on the smell of dead birds surrounding the little kid. Was he just not sleeping and filling his bed with birds because he didn’t know what else to do with it? If he’s full of Satan’s power I suppose sleep wouldn’t be necessary, he’d be like a demonic Energizer Bunny I think. Who knows, I’ve never had a demonic child so I really don’t know what you do with them or how they act.

Find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and I run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

It’s Banned Book Week!

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

It’s one of my favorite holidays of the year, Banned Book Week! This week is dedicated to celebrating those books that have found themselves censored due to their content. A number of my favorite books are banned in a variety of places. This week you can feel like a dangerous criminal and read anything that you can get your hands on to fight censorship.

For suggestions on how to celebrate the week you can check out the American Library Association’s website. My personal suggestion is to read over their many lists of most challenged books and find one that you’ve never read before. I personally suggest The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time. The also have a virtual read-out challenge where you make a video about a banned/challenged book that has meant a lot to you. There are certain criteria and you can find all of them here.

I also think this is a perfect week to check out some online book clubs that I really enjoy. If you just want to watch awesome women chat about some cool books you should check out Vaginal Fantasy. Felicia Day, Veronica Belmont, Bonnie Burton, and Kiala Kazebee talk about a variety of books, many of which are romance, but not all the time. My favorite book was Call of Cthulhu. If you like shorter videos that cover more diverse book topics you should check out Slutty Book Club. The channel just started posting new videos after a long hiatus and they’re all about Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Have a wonderful banned book week and I hope you find something wonderful to read!

Find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

In Which I Suck At Going Out

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

On Friday night I went out on the town, well sort of. Earlier in the week I had suggested to a friend of mine that we should go do something over the weekend. We invited a bunch of people to go with us to a local bar that was hosting their first ever live band night. We had a few people who said they’d go along, but by Friday only my friend Bri and I were still able to go. After work I made myself a quick dinner and lounged around the house until I decided to start getting ready.

I did my makeup, which looks roughly the same every time I do it. Dark eye, pale foundation, red lip. Yeah, I sort of look like either a vampire or Harley Quinn depending on the eye makeup intensity. I then attempted to curl my hair and literally failed. Nothing happened and my hair just wound up looking like I had been asleep for a few hours and hadn’t brushed it ever. I wound up texting my sister and she suggested a way to make my hair a bit less bleh. Then I hung out at Bri’s and her puppy accidentally cut my hand, she’s teething and it didn’t really hurt. I just looks a bit like a long paper cut.

We got to the bar around 10, the band started at 11, and we hung out and chatted about our week. Then when the band started we watched them for a bit, but it just wasn’t that exciting. There were so few people there, with the band and people working there it was about 15 people total. We were just sort of there hanging out listening to covers of popular songs, which we could have listened to casually at one of our places. We wound up leaving the bar just a little after midnight, but this happened after I accidentally walked into the wrong unmarked bathroom. I don’t go to the bar often enough to know that, even though the bathrooms are unmarked and technically gender neutral, that one is assumed to be for men and one is for women. I had to pee and wound up walking into the men’s room, though again technically not a men’s room.

Admittedly I should just stop going to bars. I’m not really a bar person I guess, though a friend of mine who lives in a bigger city has offered to take me out one weekend to check out some of their favorite places. In my hometown though I think I should stick to plans not involving bars. I still had a nice time with Bri, but we totally could have just chilled out with her puppy and watched tv.

Find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

Edgar Allan Poe’s Transmedia Exercise “Journal Entry” #PoePartyFTW

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

For this week’s entry in the Poe Party Transmedia Exercise I present to you some ravens at a writing desk as well as a horrible homicide pun.

As the authors rushed toward the library, Balt and Phil flew through the door of the rookery to join them. While they had to tread carefully once they made it near the library, ravens are not as swift by talon as they are by wing, they managed to enter in time to see the body of Fyodor prostrate on the rug. So close to all the partygoers, Lenore in particular, they couldn’t utter a single croak. Balt gestured for Phil to follow him out into the hall as the humans began moving the Russian author out of the room. In an attempt to get out of the way the ravens found themselves in the shadowy doorway of Poe’s study. With the combined shove of both birds, the door swung open just enough to let them slip inside. Phil was the first to cry out in a crow of surprise.

“Fyodor is dead! Did you see him Balt?! Fyodor is dead!”

“Whoever did that must have had an ax to grind with the poor Russian.”

Phil’s beak dropped.

“Did you just, seriously Balt?”

“What? Is Oscar the only one allowed to make bad murder weapon jokes?”

With that comment Balt flew toward Poe’s desk, where one candle was still burning in a wax covered holder.

“Seriously, has Ed never heard of a fire hazard? All this paper, that candle could set this whole place up in a heartbeat. Hold on, is this his journal? He must have been writing in it before the party started. Want to give it a read birdbrain?”

“It’s his private journal Balt, do you really think we should?”

“He is an author Phil, I think that means anything is fair game as long as it’s written down.”

Balt puffed up his chest and perched himself near the open page, with a rough coughing squawk, he began to read the page in his best Poe voice.

“Dear Journal,

Tonight is the party, which I feel is to be beset by sorrow and ill will. With Annabel Lee bringing this heinous man who seems to share my name, or at least a cartoonish and immature version of the elegant moniker of Edgar, the night will be tainted by this unwanted guest. I will make a fool of him tonight though, I have made him an ape for the murder mystery tonight. Annabel will find herself saddled with a simian of a man throughout the entire dinner. Perhaps this will sway her heart to someone of a much more educated mind. Lenore is insisting that I must help prepare the table. Perhaps the night will not be as woefully horrific as I fear, but I feel a pall around this drafty house.

Yours,

Edgar”

Balt let out a low sigh as Phil whistled under his breathe.

“At least Ed didn’t have high hopes for the evening, right Balt?”

“I guess so, but wow, he really didn’t think tonight was going to go well at all.”

With that Balt lifted his wing and flapped just enough to blow out the flame beside him. While tucked away inside the dark den, the birds had yet to learn of the odd arrival of Agatha Christie and the death of George, or after that confession, Mary Ann.

Find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and I run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine

Have You Caught Up on AHS: Roanoke Yet?

~ Katherine Kleffner ~ Leave a comment

Hi Internet People,

Tonight the second episode of American Horror Story Season 6 airs and in case you haven’t caught up yet I thought I’d share my Kleffnotes Guide to AHS video all about the first episode. This season’s theme is a bit different and I’m enjoying it so far.

Let me know what you think of the season so far and I hope you can join me for East Coast live tweeting, I’m @kleffnotes. I write for The Nerdy Girl Express and run their Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp, and I post recipes on the iZombie Support Group site.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Katherine