Goth Girls' Detective Club

John Constantine: The Beginning John Constantine is arguably one of the greatest and most loved characters in modern comic history. He is a magician, an exorcist, a demon hunter, a con-artist, a consummate cynic, an acerbic wit, a scouser, a complex loner and an inexorable chainsmoker. Although lacking in any of the characteristics that would traditionally define a hero, John is driven by a deep desire for redemption and the need to do some good with his life. The chain smoking trenchcoat wearing John Constantine was created by Steve Bissette, John Totleben and the legendary comic book genius Alan Moore, and reportedly, Alan Moore created the character after the artists expressed an interest in drawing a character that looked like Sting. Later Jamie Delano became responsible for Hellblazer and its subsequent popularity as he took John into a real world environment aging in real time and defined the character into the loveable, flawed anti-hero. Constantine made his first appearance...

At the end of this week my husband and I are celebrating four years of wedlock and roll. As it's Halloween we shall be marking this occasion by getting all zombied up and probably whiskied up too. Yup, marriage rocks. Speaking of marriage, our own  Matthew Coniam got all wedded up last weekend, stop by and congratulate him. As after four whole years I'm clearly an expert at this marriage lark, I feel I'm entitled to start handing out unsolicited advice. However, as marriage clearly does rock I can't see why any advice would be required, be in love, have fun, easy. So instead I will impart anniversary advice, and here it is:  traditional anniversary gifts relating to each particular year of marriage are stupid, change them. My husband and I have celebrated our leopard skin, tattoo, and PVC anniversaries and we feel it makes gift giving a much happier and more personal experience. By god I'm good at this. Right, now my wisdom has been well and truly imparted I'...

As you’ve probably noticed Halloween is coming up (nowt gets by me, hell no). I had intended on posting a lot more in the lead up to the big day, but unfortunately I got somewhat distracted by stuff, and kittens, mainly kittens. However, a lot of other people have been flying the Halloween banner in fine style, ( Mother Firefly , The Mike , Cynniegurl to name but a few) and doing a much better job of it than I would have, so I think we’re all winners there. Anyway, I did decide, between kitten wrangling, to contribute my own little bit to the Halloween madness so, without any more unnecessary rambling, I present to you my number one recommendation for a Halloween movie: Arsenic and Old Lace . Arsenic and Old Lace is a deliriously brilliant black comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring a rubber limbed Cary Grant demonstrating a genuine knack for slapstick comedy. Though originally filmed in 1941, as it was running on Broadway at the time and continued to run with an impressive...

Oh, the 80s, how I love you, with your shiny, shiny outfits and your big hair and your eyeshadow that, some might say, unnecessarily always matched the bulk of the colour in your shiny, shiny outfits. I wouldn’t say that, obviously, because I love you. I love your trash and your glitter. I love to watch you strutting about in your power suit and your naughty stilettos while a power ballad plays behind you. The only thing I don’t love about you is Thatcher, but that’s not your fault, you didn’t know what she was up to marching in your direction in her sensible shoes with her bouffant of evil clutching her handbag of lies and destruction. No, that wasn’t your fault. Mind you, 80s, I do still know all the words to the Wham! Rap, that is, kind of, a little bit, your fault. I get ridiculed a lot for that, it’s my only party piece for when I’ve had a few drinks and it strangely never elicits the kind of awe and wonder and undying respect you’d imagine it would. But never mind 80s, you rule, ...

 Although I’m loath to admit it, I’m probably not as young and vital and ‘street’ as once I was. The very fact that I used ‘street’ there to exemplify the cutting edge of gritty, urban youth culture almost certainly proves that original point. With this in mind Somebody Help Me probably wasn’t targeted at me, a geeky thirty five year old from the North East of England whose idea of a good time is a nice cup of tea and a Miss Marple on TV. For the benefit of better understanding, and to fill in my own cultural blanks of things that happened post 1986, I have conducted some research: Somebody Help Me is directed by Chris Stokes, Chris Stokes is a record producer, manager, and film director. He wrote and directed the 2004 dance-drama film You Got Served (???) and House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute (slightly firmer ground here, I am aware of the work, and the hair, of Kid ‘n’ Play, though I had no idea House Party was a franchise. To make matters worse House Party 4: Down to...

I've been super sick this week and so my abject apologies for not being around to appreciate all the great posts that you've all been sharing. I promise to catch up with all I've missed next week so expect a series of belated comments from me in the near future. In better news on the Jinx front, whilst I was in the midst of my disease induced delirium I discovered that the gorgeous Joe Monster had posted an interview we did a little while ago which was super cool and cheered me up no end. I had the pleasure of having a Demented Dialogue with Joe in which he asked me some seriously awesome and hilarious questions and I tried my very best to do them justice with my responses. If you would like to read Joe's genius questions and my silly ramblings in response to them please find them here . Be warned that you may learn more about me than anyone really needs to know. Don't hold that against Joe though, he's the best and the cutest, coolest prince of all things cr...

Captain Dallas (Tom Skerrit) Alien (1979) I have long believed that Tom Skerritt’s moustache leads a secret life of its own independent of Tom Skerritt. I’m fairly certain that when Tom is asleep, his moustache is actually sneaking off to its other life as a happily married small business owner raising two kids in Missouri. When you add a beard to that moustache, well, I'm fairly convinced it could then take over the world, if it was so inclined, if it wasn't too busy doing its tax returns and helping the kids with their homework. As Captain Dallas in Alien Tom Skerrit is the captain of the Nostromo, and how can you tell that he’s captain? Well, because of his coarse and rugged dependable captain’s beard, of course! My favourite thing about Captain Dallas’ beard is that it is always appears to be just millimetres away from turning feral. For the most part it clearly asserts: ‘I am a god damn captain of a class M starship I haven’t got time for such trivialities as a r...