I don’t dance often, and when I do dance it’s often alone in an empty flat while I’m cooking. (Cooking, it seems, is what I like to dance about. I wouldn’t often suggest doing it that way though, especially around a hot stove and the likes. There’s no worse mess to make than head banging in front of a pot of hot homemade tomato sauce.)

That being said, “Cut Me” has had me dancing around the office like crazy. I’m really digging this new single by Kick to Kill. They’re a band based in Glasgow and until this point, I don’t think I ever had really listened to any Scottish rock before. If this is the kind of stuff that’s popular over there then I want more. It’s completely lacking that heavy handed over use of clever lyrics that’s become so popular with some bands over here, it’s clean, edgy and great to dance to without coming off as cheery pop disguised with an obvious market ploy. There’s a genuine rock feeling to this, substance over calculated hooks, and they’re not trying so hard to be “something” other than what they genuinely are.

I took a look at these boys on their MySpace page and I’m actually pretty impressed by their lack of gimmick. I know sometimes I love bands with a theme or an image like “Toy Box Goth Rock” or monster metal but I’ve found a lot of North American sensation bands quickly become so combined in this branding of their images that the music and art produced suffers for the sakes of their clothing labels. These guys don’t look like they’re obsessing over their eyeliner and designer shoes and I love that.

They’re also not the sort of band that drags you from one extreme or the other. This isn’t for the thrashing metal heads and this isn’t for the experimental creepy crawly lovers either. This is just delicious, down to the soul, move your feet rock and that’s something that’ a lot harder to achieve than these guys make it seem.

I can’t wait to hear more from Kick to Kill. “Cut Me” has a great earthy beat to it that doesn’t try to latch on to anything clawing it’s way up the charts right now, they’re not a fad band or “The next Big Rip Off” artists. The beats and the way they make me want to move and sing along make me tempted to compare them to a tougher sounding Bloc Party at some points but I know they don’t quite sound like them either. I really can’t wait for these boys to do a North American tour, I can’t help but imagine that they would do an awesome live show. I expect – No, I demand – great and awesome things from this band and I’m salivating at the thought of getting a hold of their album as soon as I can.

Sometimes in my many travels around the web I stumble across something that just speaks to my soul.  This shop is one of them.  I would love to have this woman decorate my entire house, there’s just something so sublime and beautiful about her work.  She’s an artist after my own heart.

She’s got an antiquated touch to her work that avoids looking scrap bookish vintage and yet it transports you away to somewhere else with all the care and attention she obviously puts into each product.   I never thought such simple luxuries would ever charm me like these do but

indeed, it’s such pretty things like these that feed my soul.  (And yes, I still have one.)

Go visit ForStrangeWomen and admire.   You won’t regret it.

It’s days like these where I really love my job.  In what other sort of industry would I ever get the chance to interview all the wonderful people I adore and love?  I was lucky enough to get the chance to review RazorBladeKisses’ soon to be released album “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Scar” and I loved it so of course I just had to interview them.  These guys are great and gave some pretty cool answers.

1) When you were young, what was your favorite doll/toy?
Layla: My Mr. Galaxy Robot, that’s what they called it in this country but mine was japanese with a badly translated to English name :)
Azadeh: My Haunted Dollhouse which layla bought me for my birthday when I was 7
Andi: Apart from my first teddy bear, called imaginatively “Blue Ted”, prolly some Transformer or summat.
Steve: toy guns
Jacqui: Toy cars.

2) Who’s your favorite Author/Writer?
Layla: William Blake, he is a poet I know but most of his poems tell stories so I guess that counts. I like some graphic novels too from various authors
Azadeh: Paulo Coelho
Andi: William Gibson/Masamune Shirow
Jacqui: Enid Blyton.

3) Who/What are you reading right now?
Layla: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Azadeh: Angela Carter collection of short stories
Andi: Man-Machine Interface
Steve: harry potter
Jacqui: “The Chakras” by C. W. Leadbeater and “The Essential T. C. Lethbridge” by T.C. Lethbridge.

4) Do you prefer cookies or cake?
Layla: Cakes, although I’m not a big fan of sweets. Savory all the way.
Azadeh: Cake
Andi: Cake (or death? I hear they’re all out of cake)
Steve: call me, Mr. cake
Jacqui: Neither. I prefer alcohol and savoury things.

5) Where did Gothic Lolita start for you?
Layla: The clothing in Manga and Anime. My love of victorian dolls. I didn’t realise there was a fashion based on it until I did my research.
Azadeh: I guess it was kinda my style for a long time before I even knew there is a term for it
Andi: Very much with Mana and Malice Mizer. Put simply, I loved his style and the rest is history.

6) Did you find it difficult to start as a “Gothic Toybox Band”? Or was your unique image an asset to your success?
Layla: I think the image being one of the key ingredients of our band easily lent itself to that label. The stories and themes of the songs, the lyrics and spooky childish style of vocals all helped formed the band’s label.
Azadeh: We didn’t start as that genre I guess our genre moved towards that direction and then we gave it a name
Andi: We never really tried to be anything but the image and the music worked well together, so it kinda just grew into that.

7) What’s your favorite monster?
Layla: Frankenstien’s monster cos it’s like a rag doll but made up different human parts. And, it’s animated too, awesome :)
Azadeh: The beast in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. Am I the only who thinks he is much hotter when he is a beast than when he turns into Prince charming!
Andi: Fallen Princess (13 Ghosts)
Steve: Frankenstein’s monster
Jacqui: Umm… I can’t decide between King Kong and Count Dracula.

8) What’s your perfect location for a gothic tea party/picnic?
Layla: Dollhouse or secret garden in a castle somewhere.
Azadeh: Sherlock cafe in Whitby
Andi: The center of a large maze of course…
Steve: on my bed
Jacqui: In the shop with Bagpuss and Emily and all the other Bagpuss characters.

9) Who inspires your style the most?
Layla: Animatrons and dolls and corrupted aristocracy, bit of science fiction too.
Azadeh: 18th century france is the era which I tend to base most of my looks on.
Andi: Mana (Malice Mizer), Hizaki (Versailles), Kaya (Schwarz Stein) and to a lesser extent Ruki and Uruha from Gazette.

10) What drives your music?
Layla: Emotions, feelings, states of my mind, exchange of energies between band members when we write together, nostalgia.
Andi: For the most part it’s the contrast between nasty and nice, that sense of evil in an otherwise innocent world. Even tho stylistically we range from trip hop to rock/metal, all of our music embodies this one theme.
Jacqui: I have wanted to play music full-time since a very early age. It is my deep love of the guitar which drives me to create music and practice and keep on getting better.

11) What’s your favorite drink?
Layla: Alcohol
Azadeh: Jagerbomb
Andi: Baileys or Southern Comfort, depending on the mood.
Steve: depends what mood I am in.
Jacqui: Pinot Grigio white wine.

12) Who do you admire most living or dead?
Layla: Kurt Cobain and William Blake, both dead.
Azadeh: Nikola Tesla
Andi: Anyone with the courage to really live their lives.
Steve: People who give up their time for others without the need to be thanked and praised.
Jacqui: Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

13) Where do you see RazorBladeKisses in five years?
Layla: World domination, injected into everyone’s heads and arms via microchips so it’ll be the soundtrack of their life. No escaping, we’ll manipulate them all.
Azadeh: We have got our 4th album out and we are headlining in every gig.
Andi: Plotting our escape from Arkham…
Steve: writing material from the depths of our HQ in some exotic place…
Jacqui: Trapped in a gothic castle in deepest, darkest Transylvania.

I stumbled across this delightful metal cookie press quite by chance at Dragon Moon Gifts and I was just struck by it.  The online store is a family owned company run in Alberta and as always I love supporting small business and indi shops so I suggest you guys hurry up and snap up their entire cookie stamp stock!  I’d love to see how you guys use them so if you make a batch of cookies with this stamp you can send the pictures in and I’ll post them to the site to show off your work!

Enjoy this drink on a cool fall evening or on a chilly winter day.

The Winter Witch’s Cocoa

Ingredients:

5 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate

2  C Whole Milk

1/2 C Whipping Cream

8-10 Fresh Mint Leaves – Bruised with a motor and pestal (Or use the bottom of a cup in a bowl.)

3 Tbls Sugar

Instructions:

1)  Over a very low heat, carefully melt the chocolate making sure to stir constantly.  Once chocolate burns, it ruins the whole batch so keep it low and be patient.  You might also wish to make use of a double boiler or metal bowl set above a pot of boiling water.  Set aside once melted but make sure to continue stirring occasionally while working on the rest of the drink.

2)  In a second pot, combine milk, cream, mint leaves and sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring often and not allowing it to boil over, and cook until sugar has dissolved away into the milk. Turn off heat.

3)  Using a slotted spoon or a straining ladle scoop the mint leaves out of the milk brew and discard.

4)  Pour the chocolate in a little bit at a time and whisk thoroughly until blended and smooth.  Pour into four mugs and serve.

Whipped cream might be served on top as an added treat.

University makes you fat. Really fat. And if you have enough homework, it distracts you from the fact that you are buying a size 20 instead of your previous size 12. Then one day you graduate and you discover that you’re very happy that those big, billowy robes they make you put on come in a “one size fits all” tent style because you don’t have enough time to diet before you go up there to get your diploma. You shouldn’t be surprised that diet of mac and cheese with booze was bound to catch up with you somehow and now you’ve got a price to pay.

Trust me, I know. Putting it on is the easy part but taking it all off again isn’t so easy. Diets don’t work and for the most part, they’re dangerous. Same with diet pills and all those weight loss trends you see in books and on television. You’ll just be disappointed in the end and probably just do more damage than good to your body. There is hope though; you just need to do it the old fashioned way. Exercise.

Stop groaning. Most people don’t get enough exercise as it is even when they’re not trying to lose weight and it’s a sad fact considering all the health problems this widespread inactivity creates. Even if you’re a size 7 you need to exercise to stay healthy, your body needs it to keep everything running properly and keep you out of the hospital.

The hardest bit for the most part is motivation. A lot of people think of it all as boring and can’t find the energy to be bothered so the key is to find something to be active with that you find enjoyable. So what if you’re a goth? Your typical fitness video sure isn’t going to work for you. Those bleach blonds on the fake beach landscapes that twist and flex to upbeat elevator music get old very quickly and you’ll be lucky if you can stomach them once through the routine. What about goth aerobics? Are there actually aerobics videos for the spooky kids?! There might be, so I’ve decided to start looking.

I started with the tribal belly dance videos. So many belly dance videos are geared towards women looking to tone their bodies and loose weight because it’s supposed to be such a great workout. So I picked up Tribal Fusion Fundamentals by Bellydance Superstars and decided to see what it could offer me.

I’d like to start by saying I love tribal/gothic belly dance. The costumes are lovely, the music has wonderful beats and rhythms and the movements are just beautiful. It’s truly an art form when it’s done well. Putting my love for the craft aside, this video is not what I was expecting.

Granted, they never labeled this video as a workout or aerobics video, but I didn’t even break a little bit of a sweat, which is what I expect to do during a dance lesson. I actually don’t think I learned much either. This video is great if you just want to watch dancing, the segments between lessons where you get to watch the girls dance to music is fantastic and there is no doubt are they good at what they do. I just really didn’t find most of the instructions useful. It seems like this video is geared towards girls who are already dancers and not so much the beginners. Was it difficult? Not really. It just wasn’t very good at explaining things or taking the time to make learning the moves a smooth process in my opinion. Or rather, I’ve seen it all explained better elsewhere.

The pretty much stagnant camera angle drove me nuts. We got to watch the girls from one side angle in front of a mirror for all the lessons. This didn’t lend very well to seeing the moves as a whole rather than just the side of it. To be honest, it made the lessons feel like they were some kind of after thought rather than a focus of the dvd. There seemed to be a lot more effort in their individual performances than anything else. Their dances were very cool, the girls are talented, but by the end I just sat on the couch and watched the rest.

Music is great though, check out Pentaphobe if you want to hear what I mean. Costumes were cool too, much better than just a cop out spandex exercise get up and each girl had a really nice style to them that I appreciated. (I love Sherri’s pants.) Even if I’m not a big fan of the video I am a fan of the girls as dancers.

If you’re looking for a related work out video that will help you workout and break a sweat, try the Belly Twins belly dance series by Neena and Veena, a pair of sisters that have been doing it for years. There’s a lot more focus on keeping you moving rather than showing off their own skills so you won’t find yourself stopping and watching a routine between sets. They’ll really get you working up a sweat too. They’ve got lots to chose from and while not goth at all, it’s a lot more fun than your regular aerobics videos and these girls are top notch.