Ghost Host With The Most

This blog is primarily concerned with Horror, Halloween, and Disney (though other things are thrown in for variety). Welcome

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

Mae West is obviously a bad ass for all the things she did in service of feminism. From being a writer and producer of her own material, to beginning and managing her successful film career at the age of 40, to bringing female sexuality out of the darkness and into the public eye, it’s clear she left a positive legacy for women in pop culture.

But it’s utter BULLSHIT that we don’t talk about the fact that in 1927 (1927 people!), this woman wrote and staged a play whose main subject matter was homosexuality and cross-dressing. It went by the title “The Drag”.

Most importantly, the play, despite being somewhat dated now, dealt with its subject matter POSITIVELY, because as Mae claimed, she was inspired by her homosexual friends who desperately wished to be open about their lifestyles and relationships. She herself had even cross-dressed in some of her earlier vaudeville performances, so obviously gender norms of the time were not a big concern to her.

When she was getting the show ready, she even went to local speakeasies and recruited actual drag queens and homosexual actors to be in it, which was handy, as the script called for the production to end with a full blown 20 minute Drag Ball on the stage.

(Disclaimer: The photo above is a Drag Ball from the time, not an image of the play’s ending)

Of course this all pissed off certain people just as much as you would think, so as can be expected, the production got shut down. But the play was so offensive in its subject matter, and the powers that be were still so pissed about her other, sex-positive play “Sex” that they decided to just straight up ARREST EVERYONE INVOLVED. 

Mae and her friends were picked up from multiple theaters and got hauled away by cops in front of everyone. They got raided like they were running an Al Capone watering hole.

Whatever effect the Society for the Prevention of Vice (yes that’s really the name) thought this action would have, they were wrong. Mae turned her 10-day jail sentence into a publicity tour, wrote off the $500 dollar fine as nothing, donated money to help other female prisoners living in shit conditions, and basically left jail more famous than she went in.

Ever the rule breaker, she then reworked “The Drag” into a new play titled “The Pleasure Man”. This version had a straight protagonist, but kept the epic Drag Ball ending. 

But despite the changes, “Pleasure Man” was still viewed as indecent, and it got raided twice, prompting one Queen to wax poetic about police oppression before she was carted off.

The charges against Mae were eventually dropped, but the ordeal cost her the not-inconsequential sum of $60,000 dollars. 

By the time it was all over, Mae was already on the path to Hollywood and the illustrious film career she is most known for, but she never stopped bucking tradition, and she never forgot her show with “all the Queens” in it; in 1975 she wrote and published an expanded, novelized version of the play. If that’s not a giant middle finger to the morality police I don’t know what is.

So yeah, there are a lot of reasons Mae West is a fucking legend, and some of them are SUPER gay.

[cryptsandcoves]

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

OMG i used to watch this singalong video over and over just to get to this song! 

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

I’m not sure why people complain about Disney Princesses being anti-feminist or bad role models. Belle encouraged me to be the book nerd I am and give exactly zero fucks what anyone else had to say about it.

[gotboredoftheblog]

i dont care anymore im going to sleep

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

Dude i needed this 

[tetsuooooooooooo]

LMM: LOOK AT MY SON

Anthony Ramos:

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

Oh my god this #hamilton

[petitprincess1]

Hamilton: If you were to ask me who I'd promote...Jefferson has my vote.

Me at Burr:

(Man, I wish that you can take screenshots)

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

I’ll probably regret asking this but...

Has any man ever been told “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”?

Any ADULT man?

I have been told this twice in an office setting now and have yet to hear the same said to a man. EVER. My boss can be pretty dang heated when someone pisses him off, but me getting shorter with people because they aren’t doing their jobs or are asking questions they have clear answers to is apparently a problem?

I don’t yell, I don’t cuss, I just don’t coddle people when they are messing with my job. And I am starting to think this is only a problem because I am a woman and women aren’t supposed to be firm gruff business people? And the plain fact is that I DO get results when I have to get firm. Sometimes it is required.

I just don’t appreciate that behavior I have seen in men that is just expected from them is a problem from me and I should just let my work suffer in the interest of being nice. 

I can’t be alone in this.

[imabitofdarkness-deactivated202]

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

If I needed anymore proof that the pro-life movement is about controlling women and NOT saving lives, I certainly got it.

I posted to Twitter that I appreciated being able to go to Planned Parenthood for my healthcare since I don’t have insurance. That’s it.

Nothing about abortion is there? And it received a positive response overall. But I STILL was inundated with pro-lifers telling me I was wrong.

The mere fact that I said something nice about Planned Parenthood angered these people so much that I actually was sent pics of dead babies with the claim that they were taken at PP. They weren’t of course, which is obvious from the pics themselves, but it was disturbing nonetheless. I’m supposed to believe that the stance of someone who would exploit that kind of imagery is morally superior to mine?

But what truly bothers me is that my post, my experience, my story has NOTHING to do with abortion. I appreciate the care Planned Parenthood has given me that has kept me healthy and kept me from becoming pregnant. And I STILL have these people telling me what I should and shouldn’t do with my body. My health is not worth considering to them because of where I choose to receive care. If this was about saving children then I wouldn’t be getting judged for a normal check up. I would be able to appreciate all the other things PP offers without being attacked in some way. I would be a nonentity because I’m not utilizing the abortion service.

These people have to be at least somewhat aware that I wasn’t talking about abortion originally. That I see PP for other things. And they still can’t handle it. They still think that PP=abortion and they need to tout the benefits of CPCs (don’t get me started on those). They still want to police my body by telling me where to go for my health care. They are still telling me that my wants and needs are not as important as their morality. There is no child to “save” and they still can’t keep their opinions off of me.

The fact that they are going after someone who isn’t even pregnant, trying to push their agenda tells me that their problem isn’t the death of babies, their problem is women having choice. Their problem is people making decisions they don’t agree with. They can’t grasp that these decisions have nothing to do with them and they don’t have a right to tell someone else what to do.

And that is truly all they want. They want control of women’s bodies. They hide behind the death of children but as my example hopefully illustrates, they want control over what we say, where we go, what kind of care we receive.

And I’ll probably get more of the same for posting this.

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

Well at least this has given me a hell of a mansplaining shut down story lol. This guy is trying to say that PP sells baby parts and are part of a worldwide black market trade. He asked why I believe that that isn’t the case and here is the response and following exchange.

[weirdlandtv]

*theremin music*

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

I’ve always loved these title cards.

[deactivated-blog]

🎃🎃🎃

[mysharona1987]

[lumber-jack-white-2]

A Word On 2020

After watching the second-half of the first Democratic primary debate, I’d like to take the time to remind all of you, that it’s ok to duke it out over which candidate should get the primary ticket now, because I certainly do have candidates I love and hate just as you do, but when we start rolling closer to 2020, whoever wins the primaries, 

YOU. HAVE. TO. BACK. THEM. UP.

You absolutely CANNOT stomp your feet and whine, refusing to vote because your pick didn’t cut it. There were a lot of factors that played into the 2016 election, but one of the biggest was the number of people who didn’t vote.

YOU. CANNOT. WRITE. A. CANDIDATE. IN. 

We have this one chance to alter the course of our nation before we go over the cliff, and we can’t afford to blow it. Do not get sucked so far into debates online that you absolutely refuse to vote for someone at all if they are chosen. You have to learn from the mistakes made that brought us to where we are right now. 

Get you act together, and vote.

[nutella0mutt]

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

If you can read this and still advocate against abortion under any circumstances then there’s nothing I can do for you

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

If I needed anymore proof that the pro-life movement is about controlling women and NOT saving lives, I certainly got it.

I posted to Twitter that I appreciated being able to go to Planned Parenthood for my healthcare since I don’t have insurance. That’s it.

Nothing about abortion is there? And it received a positive response overall. But I STILL was inundated with pro-lifers telling me I was wrong.

The mere fact that I said something nice about Planned Parenthood angered these people so much that I actually was sent pics of dead babies with the claim that they were taken at PP. They weren’t of course, which is obvious from the pics themselves, but it was disturbing nonetheless. I’m supposed to believe that the stance of someone who would exploit that kind of imagery is morally superior to mine?

But what truly bothers me is that my post, my experience, my story has NOTHING to do with abortion. I appreciate the care Planned Parenthood has given me that has kept me healthy and kept me from becoming pregnant. And I STILL have these people telling me what I should and shouldn’t do with my body. My health is not worth considering to them because of where I choose to receive care. If this was about saving children then I wouldn’t be getting judged for a normal check up. I would be able to appreciate all the other things PP offers without being attacked in some way. I would be a nonentity because I’m not utilizing the abortion service.

These people have to be at least somewhat aware that I wasn’t talking about abortion originally. That I see PP for other things. And they still can’t handle it. They still think that PP=abortion and they need to tout the benefits of CPCs (don’t get me started on those). They still want to police my body by telling me where to go for my health care. They are still telling me that my wants and needs are not as important as their morality. There is no child to “save” and they still can’t keep their opinions off of me.

The fact that they are going after someone who isn’t even pregnant, trying to push their agenda tells me that their problem isn’t the death of babies, their problem is women having choice. Their problem is people making decisions they don’t agree with. They can’t grasp that these decisions have nothing to do with them and they don’t have a right to tell someone else what to do.

And that is truly all they want. They want control of women’s bodies. They hide behind the death of children but as my example hopefully illustrates, they want control over what we say, where we go, what kind of care we receive.

And I’ll probably get more of the same for posting this.

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

Got to spend an amazing afternoon at @lovelandlivingplanet with my other half. Amazing experience and a good reminder of the beauty and intelligence of nature. I got to see a real sloth and pet a shark. Anyone who knows me knows how big a deal that is. 😍#aquarium #sharks #shark #fish #sloth #iminheaven #nature #sundayfunday https://www.instagram.com/p/BxYW8QwhJ3x/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=30m1eft00m23

[burgess-meredith-deactivated202]

I have always been surprised by how many people correlate Burgess with his final film role as Grandpa Gustafson in GRUMPY OLD MEN/GRUMPIER OLD MEN. My memories of visiting the set of the first film are faint, but my parents have it all well-documented. 

The majority of both movies were filmed in/near St. Paul, MN. Which was very convenient for my family was we lived in North Dakota (born and raised!). Burgess was thrilled to have us visit the set and went around and introduced us to practically the entire cast and crew - all of which he knew by name. My memories of being on the set of the sequel, however, are as vivid as if they happened yesterday. It was known amongst my family that this would most likely be Burgess’ last film (he refused to let us on the set the day they were filming Grandpa Gustafson’s death scene). So with that in mind, everyone (cast and crew) tried to make our visit extra special. 

One of our visits were over my birthday weekend and Burgess told his good friends Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. That Saturday morning when we arrived on set, there was a mini “surprise” birthday party held in “Chuck’s Bait Shop”/Maria’s Italian Restaurant. With Jack and Walter bringing out a giant Beauty and the Beast cake (my favorite movie at the time). Easily the best birthday party I have ever had or probably will have. 

My mom has said that she doesn’t think she had ever seen Burgess happier than he was during the time spent with him on that set. We were there to support and care for him when he wasn’t filming….to keep him company - and I’m so glad it worked out and that we have such precious memories from that time. 

P.S.: Many people have said that the “bloopers” at the end of the films are what make the film their favorite. All of Burgess’ innuendos were 100% IMPROVISED. Which is why you can really hear the cast and crew cracking up. 

Character photo taken by set still photographer Ron Phillips.

[grim-grinning-gorgeous]

My feels!