Paranormal Activity 3

 I owe y'all a sincere appology.  My Grandmother has gone in for surgery and follow up appointments a lot in the last few weeks and I'm afraid that has caused to to shirk my responsibilities to my readers. This week a simple movie review and maybe next week I'll indulge y'all in something larger.

I am a big fan of the haunted house genre of film. My favorite horror movie right now happens to be Insidious. This film is brought to you by the same twisted minds that brought you the Paranormal Activity series and the Saw franchise. This is what brings me to this week’s topic: Paranormal Activity 3. Yes, I went and saw it and yes, I actually enjoyed it.

At first I was leery. I love the PA series as they have managed to bottle fear and project it onto a screen, but honestly how many times can we truly be scared by something we never really see? In this writer’s case, three times. The first PA movie I saw I was more than impressed with the realism of the situation. The film is Blair Witch Project in its execution without being hokey. The shaky camera work and amateurish acting at first had me very concerned. However as the story unfolded I was very pleased and impressed by how real the entire situation seemed. The second installment brings another piece into the puzzle. No one (in my opinion) is haunted by a demonic presence for no reason. Like any good sequel (and set up for a third) it also left us with more questions than answers. Here enters Paranormal Activity 3.

The hallmark of all of these films is the subtlety with which the problem (i.e. the haunting) is discovered. I can see myself in the near future using this film as a vehicle to properly explain the concept of dramatic irony.  Here we see the heroines of the first two films as children and watch the haunting that follows them initially enter into their lives. Many fun devices are used from bedroom sheets (I can’t help but quote Beetleguise in this moment), the Bloody Mary game, to children’s imaginary friends.

Overall I wouldn’t call this the “scariest” of the three films but I would call it the most unnerving. The last fifteen minutes of this film left a serious, indelible mark on my psyche.

Zombies Ate My Cupcakes

Bill Hinzman in Night of the Living Dead

I admit it… I’m in love with Zombies. There is just something amazing and fun to me about these undead creatures of the night. There are so many different kinds. The ones George A. Romero portrayed in some of his films like Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead are so very human with their shambling gait and decaying bodies. The ones from movies like 28 Days Later are far more feral and fast moving. In contrast though, there is Bill Hinzman’s character in Night of the Living Dead. He is the original ‘fast moving’ zombie. He has a category all unto himself. 

So needless to say when I received Lilli Vanilli’s book A Zombie Ate My Cupcake as a birthday gift, I couldn’t help but squeal in delight. This book is full of not only delicious recipes for cupcakes like red velvet or devils food but she takes the cutesy out of cupcake and turns them into a whole different monster. There are 25 different recipes including bleeding hearts, black roses, and even creepy eyes in your icing.

For my initial foray into the world of zombified baked goods I attempted the red velvet and buttercream brains along with butter cake cupcakes with her amazing vanilla frosting and gum paste roses. In her book the roses are black on a white vanilla backdrop. I tried something a little different; I made red roses that can look you in the eye.

I started by making 24 little balls of gum paste about the size of a pencil eraser leaving them to dry in a mini cupcake tin for about an hour. I then took standard liquid food coloring and painted the “pupil” and “iris” along with the veins along the sides. A toothpick came in handy for the vein work and also sinking in the pupil slightly allowing the color to pool.

 After that, I took the same white gum paste and tinted it pink, kneading it until it was a workable consistency. After that I just followed the book’s detailed directions for the black roses, wrapping the initial “cone” around the eyeball. By the time I was done they came out looking like this.I propped them up in the mini cupcake tin giving them another hour or so to dry before I painted them. 

Taking my cheep liquid food coloring again (using an egg carton for my palette) I painted the roses red. What I like about painting them red is it gave the petals a fabulous depth of translucent color just like a real rose petal. These I left overnight to dry. The same day I also baked the author’s amazing red velvet cupcakes but used a box mix for the butter cupcakes giving them plenty of time to completely cool prior to decorating.

The next day I made the recipe for vanilla frosting from the book and tinted it green with gel icing color from Wilton. Then taking a star tip, I piped a spiral across the top of the butter cupcakes to create a ‘bush’ for the roses to sit in. The red velvet cupcakes got butter cream ‘brains’ piped on the top using a round tip 12.

I’m very proud of the final result. These cupcakes ended up being devoured by a crew of hungry zombies and met with their approval. I would highly recommend the book. It’s a fabulous respite from the usual cutesy and unappetizing. You can order your copy here or use it as an excuse to pop down to the local book store. If you’re anything like me you’re always looking for a good excuse. Brains need feeding too.