Monthly Archives: October 2011

Life as a (Non-Easter) Bunny

Posted by on October 27, 2011 No comments

By Nutmeg Savo, with a little help from the Headbanging Hostess
Originally posted April 1, 2010

This is the time of year I hate. My human mom runs around after me asking me to shit jelly beans and lay Cadbury Crème Eggs, as if I had the ability. I mean, she really should know better. She bought me from a breeder, she knows I’m not the Easter bunny, I never leave the house! How could I possibly bring candy to all the world’s children without leaving the comfort of my condo?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got it pretty good here. I’m well fed, I have the run of the house. The human world pretty much revolves around me. The garden is grown around my tastes, the floor is strewn with bunny shaped friends and every banana in the house has my name on it. True, I have to put up with her constant displays of affection. But I’ve learned to just sit still and endure her kisses and cuddles. Eventually she’ll stop and give me another slice of banana. See, I told you I had it good.

We bunnies make pretty good pets, if I do say so myself. We’ve got personalities like dogs but we’re independent like cats. Oh yeah, I’m litter box trained! I haven’t been in my cage in years. I live under the dining room table, sometimes behind the couch. Of course when it’s time for me to lie down I like to do it in the absolute center of the house so everyone has to step over me. I don’t make any noise, so I have to remind them I’m here somehow.

When people come to visit they “ooh” and “aah” over me like I’m the Hope Diamond. But really I’m just an angora rabbit, one of the oldest breeds. Ever hear of an angora sweater? That’s me. The good news is angora bunnies don’t have to lose their lives in order to provide people with warmth. Angora can be plucked or sheared and it’ll grow back without causing the bunny any discomfort.

The bad news, if there really is any bad news about bunnies, is that we’re not really meant to be pets for little kids. Lots of people give their little ones bunnies for Easter and, while their hearts might be in the right place, we’re really too fragile for inexperienced pet owners. We’re not supposed to be picked up by our ears or by the scruff of our necks. And even if we’re properly picked up we like to kick. If a kid should accidentally drop us we could really be hurt. It’s best to leave bunny ownership to adults.

If you want a bunny contact a reputable breeder. Better yet, contact your local rabbit rescue. There are lots of bunnies in need of a good home. Trust me, you’ll love us – even if we don’t shit jelly beans.

Rabbit Rescue Links:

Editor’s Note: Sadly, Nutmeg passed away last month.  He was a cherished member of the Headbanging-Savo family, and you can see his memorial video below.  :/



Pimp Your Pumpkin

Posted by on October 18, 2011 No comments

 

Ah, yes. Rocktober. I mean, Cocktober. I mean, October! Sorry, too busy thinking about what I’m going to do with my pumpkin to come up with the proper name of this glorious month.

Fall is in the air, homes are intentionally decorated with cobwebs and spiders, supermarket aisles are brimming with bags of individually wrapped portions of chocolate-sugared happiness, and farmers are peddling their pumpkins.

If you’ve never been to Jones Family Farms in Shelton, CT now is the time to go. Up on Pumpkinseed Hill Farm you (obviously) find pumpkins, squash, and gourds in every size, shape and color combination imaginable. Turban shaped squash, Cinderella’s Coach in a squash, Blue Pumpkins which are also a squash — why isn’t it Squashseed Hill Farm? Read more »

A Little Night Music

Posted by on October 16, 2011 1 comment

 

Hey folks. I guess I needed to post my own Halloween article, so it doesn’t seem like I’m a holiday hater. I decided to keep things firmly in the “music nerd” category once again, and offer my thoughts on a collection of albums that I thought people might be interested in. And to keep with the holiday spirit, I chose a selection of music that has a spooooky vibe to it. They might not be totally frightening, but each album shares a dark, brooding and dissonant nature. Oh yeah, and no metal will be included (because that would be too easy). So, let’s get on with it!

Scott Walker – The Drift

Okay, this album had to be on the list. It could be the one album in this selection that is truly frightening. For those who don’t know, Scott Walker is an American singer who gained some popularity in Europe as a teen idol in the 60s. His deep, sensual and romantic crooning voice sounded like icing on a cake, and to the girls, he wasn’t bad to look at it either. Over time his music became more and more avant-garde, his compositions veering far from the R&B pop that he became famous for. His output became very sparse as well, to the point where he now releases an album every 10 years on average. This brings us to his most recent album, The Drift, released in 2006. Walker is now in his 60s, and though he’s still an amazing crooner, his voice has naturally deepened with age. His singing on this album is beautiful, but can be incredibly creepy a lot of the time. The actual music is something that I can’t equate to anything else. It’s cinematic and linear, structurally built as huge blocks of sound. There’s a great sense of dissonance throughout the whole record, and his singing provides most of the melody. Read more »

The Bad Vegetarian Gradually Loses Resolve

Posted by on October 15, 2011 4 comments

 

This April, I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.  While the book didn’t convince me to stop eating meat altogether, the descriptions of factory farms were nauseating enough that I decided that I wouldn’t give my money to this disgusting but tasty industry.

Fast-forward to October.  I’ve been moderately successful in my mission, at least when I’m not drunk.  Or at someone’s barbecue.  Or when my roommates order Chinese food.  And although my fiancée and I split the grocery bill, I do purchase steaks for him, and then lovingly prepare them so they’re ready when he gets home from work.  Now the time of year is approaching where the real vegetarians eat Tofurkey and the fake ones say, “Pass the white meat!”

I have a feeling that I won’t be eating Tofurkey. Read more »

Innocent Until…?

Posted by on October 13, 2011 No comments

By Danielle Gombos

The West Memphis Three around the time of their conviction in 1993, and then at the time of their release.

Editor’s Note: Danielle Gombos, a graduate of the University of New Haven’s criminal justice program, did extensive research on the case of the so-called “West Memphis Three” before they were released from prison in August; she adapted this article from her research. In light of the case’s eventual outcome and the recent execution of Troy Davis, the importance of forensic evidence has come to the forefront of public debates about our legal system.

The case of the West Memphis Three has been a source of great controversy for almost two decades now.  In 1993, “three eight-year-old boys were found mutilated and murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas.”[1]  Three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, were convicted of these crimes with no physical evidence tying them to the case; furthermore, the majority of their interrogations were never tape recorded.[2]  Their recent release from prison has put a spotlight on the possibility of grave errors within the American justice system. Read more »

F-You, Remakes

Posted by on October 3, 2011 No comments

I don’t care if they call it a remake, a “reboot” or a re-envisioning, the current trend of taking perfectly good horror movies and making them again needs to stop. I grew up on horror movies and am not one who is particularly scared by them (just don’t ask me to watch John Carpenter’s Halloween alone, or I’ll be pacing my house, expecting to see Michael Myers pop up outside one of my windows), but I appreciate them for what they are. They’re over-the-top. They’re ridiculous. They make you jump. They have a sick little sense of humor to them.

Being partial to Jason Voorhees, I actually spent money to see the “reboot” of the franchise in a theatre. I was with two friends, we were all groaning and face palming the whole time. Jason is all wrong. Just to start, he is keeping up a house – where he apparently lives – complete with electricity, strings of Christmas lights, and candles. Jason isn’t exactly a smart or capable… whatever he is. He appears to know very few things beyond picking up sharp objects and murdering (usually) horny teenagers with said objects. Beyond that, I don’t think he has ever been shown to know how to do anything but somehow travel from Crystal Lake to Manhattan. Yet in the remake, he has managed to get to a store and purchase household goods. This means he has money. There is a good possibility this is the result of the gigantic weed plants that are growing right by his house. Read more »

Gettin’ Blazed in New York

Posted by on October 3, 2011 No comments

 

Get blazed. Great Jack O’Lantern Blazed that is!

Every year the Van Courtlandt Manor in Sleepy Hollow, New York hosts its outdoor Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze. Literally thousands of pumpkins are carved by volunteer artists and are put on display throughout the landscape. I mean, I like pumpkins but these carvers reallyyyy like pumpkins…. or hate them since they slice them up with knives.

Our group ventured along the illuminated path while gazing in amazement at the talent and obsessive-compulsive nature it must have taken to carve these gourd-like fruits. There are literally thousands of hand-carved real and faux pumpkin installations grouped by bad-ass theme like skulls, ocean life, mummies, dinosaurs, Celtic designs, butterflies, tombstones, a giant spider web, bees, aliens, pirate ghosts, and the cutest shrunken heads. This year they added King Kong, sheep skeletons, and Greek mythological creatures. We felt like kids again winding through this maze of glowing pumpkins. We also felt like human cattle being prodded along to an unknown fate by the massive crowd. Read more »