Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary

easternpen

If you’re anything like me, you probably love a good scare.  You’ve most likely gone to at least one haunted house or hayride in your life, and it was either okay or it simply sucked.  I myself have been to a few, but of the ones I’ve visited, Terror Behind the Walls is undoubtedly the best.

The event boasts six different attractions that take place within the dilapidated confines of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which has been featured on shows like MTV’s “Fear” and “Ghost Hunters” as an actual haunted place.  Cited by various sources as one of the greatest haunted house attractions in the country, my cousin Double K and I decided to test the claim.  After our early arrival to the City of Brotherly Love, we spent a little time perusing the streets before finally heading over to the event parking lot, located about twelve blocks from the Eastern State Penitentiary.

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2008
11/15
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CATEGORY
Random
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Wacken Open Air 2008

Festival Dates: July 31-August 2, 2008
Venue: Wacken Open Air, Village of Wacken, Germany
Bands Mentioned, in Order of Appearance:  Girlschool, Mustash, Avenged Sevenfold, Nashville Pussy, Leaves Eyes, Iron Maiden, Synic, Unearth, Job for a Cowboy, Soilwork, Opeth, Gorgoroth, Avantasia, Hatebreed, At the Gates, Lordi
Browser Warning.. a million pictures follow

Wacken Open Air 2008

or

How I made a lot of friends, got a black eye, and lost my passport.

Wacken Open Air is recognized in many nations as the best heavy metal festival in the world. There are some contenders, like maybe Metal Camp in Slovenia, but seriously, there is nothing else out there like W:O:A. The amazing line-up that each year tops the preceding one is only half the story. What W:O:A is truly about is the seventy thousand people who make their way from across the world to this small village in Northern Germany to unite over their love of metal. W:O:A is about the metalheads, headbangers, rockers, punks, fetishists, and of course Vikings. The story of Wacken is the story of these people.

Naked, just because

Naked, just because

We offer you a miniscule portion of all the many stories and tales that weave their way around the magical time of July 31-August 2, 2008. We give you the account of two girls from New York City who decided that it was a good idea to go for an international camping trip with thousands of drunk and high strangers who are there to worship music by hammering each other with fists, wallowing in mud and vomit, running around naked, and refusing to shower. This is our story. Continue reading →

2008
11/07
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Conventions/Festivals
Music
Travel
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The best camp at Wacken 2008!

On our last day at Wacken d42 and I took a constitutional around the campgrounds and this was absolutely the most elaborate campsite ever. They had a club in there! If you look closely, you’ll see that a good portion of the camp is made up of enormous speakers. Rock on!

Check out an article about our experience at Wacken 2008 and more pics here:

Wacken Open Air 2008

2008
11/07
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CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Choke: A Movie Review

As I have stated before, I am a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk’s earlier books. Like most people, I found out about his work from the movie “Fight Club,” which I loved, and still do to this day. Fans have been waiting nine years for another adaptation, getting their dreams crushed along the way with cancellations for various reasons, such as Survivor not being adapted after September 11th due to the fact the plot involves a plane hijacking. After a long wait, they finally got their wish, with the newly released movie “Choke.”

The plot follows Victor Mancini, a young sex addict who makes himself choke in restaurants in order to get saved by people so he can use the sympathy of a near death experience to get money from them in order to keep his senile mother in a nursing home. His mother never remembers who he is, and Victor is trying to find out about his past before she loses her mind completely. The story only gets stranger from there. Continue reading →

2008
11/04
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CATEGORY
Movies
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Obituary Unleashed

Show date: October 5, 2008
Venue: B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill
Bands: Obituary, Unleashed

Ralph Santolla of Obituary throwing up the horns

Ralph Santolla of Obituary throwing up the horns

The marquee outside of B. B. King’s stated:

Obituary
Unleashed

I was hoping this would be a fitting description of the show to come. D42 was a little worried when she saw all the guys with denim and leather vests show up. Unleashed was an new band to us, and that kind of gear generally speaks of thrash metal, which is not my favored genre. Unleashed turned out to be a Swedish death metal band. I still thought they sounded more thrash then anything, but if that is what they’re going for, more power to them.

Unleashed are a band of showmen. Their music was good, but the show itself was great. We showed up fashionably late, and Johnny Hedlund (vocals) was already on stage riling up the crowd. Continue reading →

2008
11/01
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CATEGORY
Music
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I never want to leave Spiegelworld… oh “Absinthe”

Have you ever been to the circus? I mean, back when you were little and could see past the dirty tired animals and the worn out grins on the clowns’ faces. I went. Many years ago. My dad bought me an enormous lollipop which I shared with my sister and which we kept going for almost a week until we woke up to find the treasure covered in ants. I loved going to the circus. I loved the feeling of awe at the heart-stopping tricks of aerial acrobats, and the courage of lion-tamers, and joy at the tricks clowns played on each other, the orderly chaos of it all.

That was when I was a little girl. Well, I finally got to experience all these feelings, and more, all over again in Spiegelworld . Absinthe, this “variety show on acid”, a burlesque and a circus, a surreal trip into a whole other dimension appealed to my adult sensibilities the way the circus charmed me when I was a child.

Beelzy and I rushed to Pier 17, arriving a few minutes before 9:30 just in time to realize the tickets we bought were actually for next week. The ticket clerk straightened everything out for us and we kept on rushing to the lights and sounds of what seemed to be a carnival with a circus tent or two in the center of it all.

Terrible shot, I know

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2008
10/12
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Theater
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Weird NJ Movie Madness

Since relocating to New Jersey in September, I began to experience mild ennui. I’ve taken to coming home from work to flop on the couch and eventually fall asleep in front of People’s Court or a similar attack on my brain cells. Then Beelzy called and told me we’re going to a Weird New Jersey party, part of the newly established Reel New Jersey Film Festival (LINK)

Mark and Mark

Mark and Mark

You may have read one of the Weird NJ magazines or even saw the offshoot of that project on the history channel: Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran hosting Weird U.S. If this is all new to you, just know that Mark and Mark think of their venture as “your travel guide to New Jersey’s local legends and best kept secrets.” It was once a more underground movement, with secretive trips to abandoned mental institutions and the like, but has become fairly mainstream in the past few years with corresponding events such as this large-scale Midnight Movie party. Continue reading →

2008
10/11
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CATEGORY
Movies
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