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Category: Goth Subculture (Page 1 of 10)

Thoughts On Season Of The Witch: The Book Of Goth By Cathi Unsworth

I received this book a few days before it was released because of me living in the middle of nowhere, but I only started reading it a few days ago due to having shingles on my head. If you don’t know what shingles are it is a virus that you get from previously having caught chicken pox. There is no rhyme or reason as to why the virus reactivates and it is very, very painful. I’m doing much better now, but I couldn’t read for about a week due to some of the sores being on the side of my head where my glasses hit. I felt like a victim of consumption because it made me look really pale and sickly. You have to look on the bright side of things sometimes.

Anyways! This is quite different from the new John Robb book The Art Of Darkness because it has footnote references listed in the back. Personally, that doesn’t make a difference to me but I know that some people are really sticklers for such things. I am about 75% through it so far and I am having some mixed feelings about it. I am in no way saying that it is bad, because it is not. However, the way she goes about explaining things without connecting the information to the actual subculture can be a bit confusing at times. Since I am older and have been in the subculture for a few decades I know what these connections are, but anybody new reading it is going to be wondering why some of the bands are mentioned since they have no obvious connections to the subculture.

Take Lydia Lunch for example, because she is mentioned heavily in it. I have always known who she is because the alternative clubs I went to over thirty years ago used to play some footage of her, and there was a lot of talk back then about her having made a porn film with Henry Rollins in which he fists her. To this day I have no idea if that porno was real or something totally made up because it’s not something that interests me. Because of all of this I have always associated her with the punk subculture, but I can see the connection to goth since her art went down a dark path.

All in all I think it is a worthwhile book to read because there is some information in it that I have never read in other books about the subculture. Its only weakness, as I have mentioned, is the whole connecting the dots issue. Older people will get it, but some newer people will probably be left a little confused.

Breaking News!!!!Cruel World Cancelled The Event Before Siouxsie Could Perform!

I woke up this morning wondering how the event was going and was met with this news. Apparently a thunderstorm was predicted to hit the event so in the middle of both Iggy and The Human League’s sets people were told to exit the event. That means nobody got to see Siouxsie. Personally I would be very pissed off and I feel sorry for the people who traveled far just to see her.

Did Some Patch Placement And It Looks Nice And Spooky!

Sometimes it takes a while to choose a really good patch placement and sometimes you get lucky. For whatever reason the patch gods have looked down upon me today and guided my hands. I like things to be in balance when I do patch work because I feel that a jacket is more put together when this is done. Others like to do the opposite and that is okay. You’ll find that the more you do DIY projects the more you will get into your own creative flow.

These are all sew on patches. I have never ironed on a patch in my life because it is more easy to remove them if you want to use them again. Plus, my days of going into pits are long gone so I don’t have to worry about them being ripped off.

I bought all of these patches off of Etsy. There are tons of artists on there making very cool spooky patches. Shipping is very expensive right now unless you are buying from sellers in your own country; then it is usually cheaper.

This is a themed spooky jacket that is going to be mainly black and white. Tim Burton’s films and the colour green are not allowed on it because I’m not really a huge fan. I like Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands but I wouldn’t ever base my identity on them. It’s just not for me. I love Hammer Films and gothic horror in general. Christopher Lee will always be my favourite Dracula because he can be quite feral at times; he forgets his manners and will sip on his guests. No colour green because green with stripes is a very overplayed look and people associate that with Beettlejuice and Burton. I will be using purple thread because I think that will make a nice contrast. I will share more news on this project as I go along.

Amy Lionheart Blocked Me On Twitter, So Here Are More Screenshots

These screenshots pretty much speak for themselves so I will not be doing a ton of commentary on them.

Apparently Amy thinks she is an expert when it comes to people being transgendered. Go figure.

Here she is again pretending to be an expert as to who can and can’t be transgendered.

Awwwww……..look how nice and pleasant she is.

How dare ANTIFA stand against right wing bullshit, how dare they! Amy reminds us to think of the businesses, because apparently they are more important than basic human rights. Said like a good little right wing capitalist bitch. That is all for now.

Watching A Goth Tim Pool Fan Go Down In Flames Is Glorious!

This has got to be one of the most epic ‘fucked around and found out’ chain of events I have ever witnessed online, so I thought I would share since sharing is caring.

Amy Lionheart is a gamer and goth who posts videos of her playing Soul Caliber, among other games, over on YouTube. I only knew about her because she is one of the people who came after me for attacking Madi Danger for having white nationalist beliefs. What is important to note is that Amy is a person of colour who is proud of her Puerto Rican heritage. Yet, she sure loves aligning herself with far right wing racist individuals.

I actually cackled when I read the above interaction. She claims that she doesn’t like both parties, but that lie is exposed when somebody presents her with a screenshot that they took of her liking and following Libs Of TikTok. Libs Of TikTok is a right wing account that mocks the LGBTQ+ community and they spread misinformation and hate about them. The bitch forgot that her likes and follows are public; she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box. Oh…it gets better.

Yep, Amy liked and followed Tim Pool. I think any pretense that she has for claiming that she doesn’t like both sides is pretty much dead and buried at this point. I swear, every single time somebody claims that they dislike both sides they end up being exposed as a right wing moron. This isn’t any different. She is fulfilling the time honored tradition of fucking around and finding out.

So, she thinks people are behaving like ‘fascists’ for calling out right wing bullshit? Really shows you what side of the aisle she is really on. Bitch, you liked and follow Tim Pool so your actual love of fascism is showing. Oops.

After all of this she decided that it would be a great idea to write a really long tweet defending herself. Get the popcorn ready because this is going to be fun.

So she is claiming that she is basically gifting us her presence? Awww….what a sweet thing for her to do.

Being civil to one another does not include liking others who want the LGBTQ+ community to disappear. Sorry to tell you that but your hypocritical ‘takes’ are directly harming people in the gaming community. Supporting far right ideologies in not a valid opinion, rather it is pure hate. A valid opinion doesn’t include anything that might outright harm others.

My favourite part of the screenshot is when she admits to not voting because she feels it doesn’t matter. This kind of crap is the reason why Trump got elected and why so many states are now passing anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Please don’t think that voting doesn’t matter, because it will always matter.

This bitch is a bit dim to be jumping to these conclusions. She claims to be all of these ‘pro’ things yet likes Tim Pool and Libs Of Tik Tok? She doesn’t understand why it’s okay to be left leaning and not conservative in the gaming community. Hon, it’s because the majority of conservatives right now follow belief systems that want to see the basic human rights of the LGBTQ+ community vanished. That is why conservatives are not being tolerated. This just proves how far down the right wing rabbit hole she is hiding in. This chick ain’t coming out of it because she has pretty much been fully indoctrinated into a harmful belief system.

Some people would say that none of this is true because she is a person of colour. Enrique Tarrio, the now convicted leader of The Proud Boys, identifies as being Afro-Cuban, so that argument has flown right out the window. In fact here is an article from the site Axios which explains the rise of white nationalist Hispanics. Way back over thirty years ago I knew a guy who was half Filipino who turned into a WAR (white aryan resistance) skin overnight. Self hate is a real thing and it’s tragic as hell.

If you don’t have a problem with anybody based on their sexuality, identity, ethnicity, race or religious views then why are you liking and following Tim Pool and Libs Of TikTok, both of whom speak out against all of it? In reality she obviously takes issue with all of those things. She actively likes others with far right extremist views so her words are devoid of any sort of meaning. I can’t take this bitch at all seriously, mainly because actions speak far louder than words, and her actions are very problematic. People who are for the human rights of others are not going to be following Tim Pool or any of his ilk.

She is taking a break from Twitter? I would really be surprised if she comes back using the same name. She will probably change her name in hopes that people won’t find out who she really is. She has fucked around and is now finding out, and that can only be a good thing as far as I’m concerned.

EDIT: It is now May 12th and Amy in her infinite wisdom has blocked me on Twitter. These types always do this sort of thing because they are cowards.

A New Book About The New York Goth/Industrial Scene Has Been Released

I have no idea who this person is because back in the 80’s-90’s I was in California. Apparently the dude used to associate with local New York bands and wrote a column about the goth, industrial and punk scenes for a rock magazine called Aquarius. I feel so out of touch because I had never heard about this person before. Since that is the case I am not going to order this right away. I’m going to read some reviews before I plunge full in.

There seems to be a whole lot of people writing books about the goth subculture right now; I imagine some are doing it for the love of the music while others are trying to cash in. I have no idea what side of equation that this person falls on so I am not going to tell you to rush out and buy it.

Patch Update

Yes, I am a patch addict.

A bunch of patches have come in since the last post. My favourite being the large Boris Karloff as the Mummy patch. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Mummy; he isn’t given the same respect or attention as Dracula or Frankenstein’s monster. If the Mummy were a child going to a monster type academy they would probably be picked last all of the time during games. He is going on the back of the striped jacket for all of those reasons and more. I’m not sure which others are going on yet because I am waiting for more to arrive.

Where did I get these patches? Etsy. There are so many patch sellers that you will more than likely find the exact kind you want on there. I have noticed that there are a few unscrupulous sellers right now overcharging for their spooky patches because of ‘goth’ being a current fashion trend. So, if some seem too expensive to you it’s probably because they are overpriced. I will update further on this once more arrive.

Starting Work On A New Jacket

Yes, yet another jacket.

I’m back from the dead! I just needed some away from the internet time and I am doing much better. Hooray! I was going to finish this post a week ago but I caught a head cold and had absolutely no energy. I’m just about over it and feel, much, much better. Off we go!

As the title of this post states I am starting work on yet another jacket. When I go onto the ‘high street’ of my town I always browse the New Look store’s clearance section. I always come out with something because I live in a very conservative area. Anything too ‘out there’ for the local normies goes on clearance, and the prices are cheaper than the local thrift stores. It’s a win win for me because it means I don’t have to pay a lot of money to find a piece of clothing to do some fun DIY type work on. I would say that the quality of their stock is better than Shein, so if you are a weirdo with a budget in the UK you ought to head over there.

Since it is a black and white striped jacket people will assume that I am going to ‘Beetlejuice’ it. I think that type of look is very overplayed and I am not a big Tim Burton fan. Because of all of this I am not allowing any green on this jacket. The patches that I will be using will be mostly black & white. There will be some purple, red, blue,etc…but no green. When it comes to DIY battle jackets you should always put what YOU love on it; not what others tell you that you should have on it.

The purple really sets it off.

So far the only work I have done to it is place some purple studs right beneath the pocket openings. Since it is an unlined summer type blazer I might not place any more studs on it. When you stud a piece of clothing you make it heavier so that would go against the purpose of this blazer; a lighter summer type garment. I may feel differently down the road but that is my headspace right now.

I am waiting for a bunch of patches to arrive. This is going to be a ‘spooky’ jacket: horror films, TV shows, sayings and maybe some bands. When more get here I will show them to you all because they are peachy-keen! Okay, I’m going to cheat and share one below that is defitely going on it. It is a thing of beauty!

Nadja is my spirit animal.

Etsy May Be In Trouble Due To Silicon Valley Bank Failing

Official Etsy statement sent to creators owed money.

I use Etsy quite a bit and have gotten most of my accessories from there so I find this a bit troubling. They are literally having issues paying the sellers due to having money tied up in Silicon Valley Bank; a bank that has just gone under. I’m not buying anything more from there until they have this figured out and can pay creators what they are owed. I will give updates if I see anything further about this. EDIT: Apparently the FDIC is covering the money that businesses have in this bank so that said companies have access to that cash. This means Etsy can pay the money they owe sellers. At least in theory they can, which is a good thing. Nobody knows exactly how all of this is going to pan out so stay tuned.

Peter Hook Liked My Tweet About New Boring ‘Post-Punk’ Bands

I think many of you know how much I dislike a lot of the modern bands doing ‘post-punk by the numbers’ music. Lots of bands using the same bass-lines, most of the time stolen from Peter Hook, and the same monotonous delivery of echoing vocals. I find it all boring, trite and highly repetitive. If I want to listen to The Cure or The Smiths I will listen to The Cure or The Smiths not some band trying their best to sound like they came out of the 80’s without actually understanding the 80’s. Back in the 80’s lots of post-punk bands sounded completely different from one another rather than exactly copying one another like they do now. By the way I would never listen to The Smiths these days because Morrissey is a racist wanker. Loved them when I was a teen in the 80’s, but stopped listening to them when they broke up. Yes, I am that old.

Better view of what I wrote.

You know all of this shit is getting out of hand when even Peter Hook is agreeing with me. The dude has been a musician for decades and has only gained a lot of respect for his bass playing pretty recently in his career. He fully deserves the accolades because he is a brilliant bass player. Do you know what isn’t brilliant? Outright copying his bass-lines and trying to be the next Joy Division. There is never going to be another Joy Division because that band was lightening in a bottle; they came about in a certain time and place that just doesn’t exist any longer.

What can we learn from all of this? You will gain more respect following your own musical journey as a musician, rather than trying to copy a sound that has been done to death.

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