~

All things Michael Jackson.......

If you have been here before, you know I am a huge MJ fan. Always have been always will be so when my kiddos were asking me if I had heard Little Susie, I had to think about it and realized that I did not know much about this song even though I own every album MJ has every done, including the one this song is on.  HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I.

Who was Little Susie?  Michael is possibly the only one who knew the truth.  There are a few theories which vary greatly from each other.  The theory that seems to be the most believed is that Little Susie was Susan Condry, a girl who actually died in 1972 from being pushed down stairs.  With her father locked up in a mental institution, her mother dying from a drug overdose, and her big sister, Anna, being run over by a car, Little Susie was all alone.  She was ultimately placed with her abusive grandfather who later abandoned her as well.  Her grandfather eventually returned and found her body.  He called the police who found this little child at the bottom of the stairs with a crushed skull and a music box by her side.

Another theory is that Ted Bundy killed her.  Some speculate this song is about the Holocaust, a poem by Thomas Hood called Bridge of Sighs, and the final theory I came up with is the song was inspired by Gottfried Helnwein's artwork who was apparently obsessed with creating art with emotional imagery of children.  Michael Jackson used Gottfried Helnwein's painting Child of Light to depict the song on HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book I booklet.  It is said that Michael starting writing the song in 1979 and was finally released in 1995.  This is a mystery that will continue to remain a mystery.  It is a very beautiful song, its sad, a little bone-chilling, and a tad on the scary side honestly.  If you have not heard it, check it out here on Youtube.  The short films that Michael is known for is stunning and breathtaking.

The Originals.........

Niklaus....

Its Thursday..........

Breaking out tonight......

Ready to watch The Bates Motel....

The end is near........

The real life Norman and Norma Bates..........

Psycho is a suspense novel written by Robert Bloch in 1959 which Alfred Hitchcock release a film adaptation of Psycho one year later which is clearly his greatest work and one of the most famous thriller/horror films to date and was the basis for my favorite show on TV, The Bates Motel.  Yes, I admit it, The Bates Motel is my favorite even topping The Walking Dead (Gasp!) bet you never saw that coming.  The fact that tonight will be the series finale is literally making me psycho.......On a side note, it is also thought that Silence of the Lambs and Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacres is also based on Ed Gein.

Augusta Gein

It is a frightening to think a person could be so vile but it does make for a great novel, film, and television series.

So what is Psycho all about?  Robert Bloch's inspiration for the main character, Norman Bates, was "loosely" inspired by Ed Gein, son of George and Augusta Gein and Wisconsin's most notorious cannibal, grave-robber, and serial killer.

Basically, a real life boogeyman.



Gein's father was an alcoholic and abusive, and his mother was extremely religious, domineering, and controlling. Gein's and his mother had a nontraditional relationship.

Even though she controlled him and belittled him, he was obsessed with her.  Their relationship did not go unnoticed.  His older brother, Henry, confronted them about it several times.  Interestingly, Henry died in a mysterious fire on the family's farm in 1944.  This close relationship with his mother is said to be the harbinger to his crimes which escalated after her death in 1945.

Gein busied himself committing crimes around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin (an isolated rural area in Wisconsin) earning him the name The Mad Butcher of Plainfield.  During a ten year span, Gein murdered two women and exhumed and defiled at least a 20 bodies from various cemeteries around Plainfield.



With no family left, Gein was alone at the farmhouse and his morbid past time of defiling bodies increased.  He turned one of the rooms in to a shrine for his mother which he kept sealed off.  He kept her body there.

In 1957, Bernice Worden, local hardware store owner, went missing.  Witnesses reported seeing Gein with her before her disappearance.  Police paid a visit to Gein's farm at which point not only did they find Mrs. Worden's body but they found the body of local tavern owner, Mary Hogan, who disappeared in 1954.

Her head was found in a paper bag.  The police also found socks made from human flesh, a belt made from several human nipples, a vest made from the skin of a woman's torso, a ceiling light pull crafted from human lips, human skulls mounted on the corner posts of his bed, human skin lampshade, chair seats upholstered with human skin, human skullcaps used as soup bowls, and a human heart in a pan on the stove.  His entire house was decorated from various items made from the skin and bones of the dead.



He said he killed the two women because they resembled his mother. He did plead guilty to killing the women and was found guilty but legally insane.  He was sent to the Mendota Mental Health Institute and resided there until his death at age 77 due to complications of cancer.


Ironically, he is buried beside his family at the Plainfield Cemetery.  It is said that people would visit the cemetery, find Ed Gein's gravestone, and chip pieces of it to take as a souvenir.  The entire gravestone was stolen in 2000 and recovered in 2001.  The gravestone is kept in storage, his grave remains unmarked. Seems fitting to me.

So that is, in a nutshell, what the novel Psycho is about.

The TV series The Bates Motel's Norman Bates is loosely based on Ed Gein and his obsession with his mother.


Momma's boy going manic.

If you have not watched The Bates Motel, go check in now.  This is the best show on TV, and the actors and writers have done an incredible job.  Realizing that tonight is the last episode ever is harder to deal with than getting divorced.  Me and my kiddos were lucky to get to see Nestor Carbonell and Max Thieriot at Walker Stalker Atl two years ago.  They were incredibly nice and so darn good looking!  Sad to see it end!

Bates Motel Marathon Monday starts at 7 a.m. and leads up to the series finale..............

Happy Earth Day..........

How is it possible that he died a year ago?...........

You have got to be kidding me.........

I just found this recipe for Banana upside down cake.

I love anything banana.

I am going to give this a try with a few minor tweaks to the original recipe just to make it as vegan as possible.

I know it will be amazing!






Oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts  is where I found this masterpiece!

Ingredients
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
About 3 bananas sliced into 1/4­1/3 inch rounds
1/3 cup unsalted butter­softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs (I will use an egg substitute)
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (we will use Tofutti sour cream, it is seriously delicious!)
1 cup mashed overripe bananas
1 cup all ­purpose flour  (may go GF if I have enough)
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Cannot wait to give this a try.

Overnight shoot tomorrow and Thursday.......

Call time 4 p.m.
This will mean wrapping up with be after 4 a.m., most likely until 5:30.  Long, long night!

Advice is defined as.......

guidance or recommendations concerning prudent future action, typically given by someone regarded as knowledgeable or authoritative.

When you give advice you are unqualified to give, you look as dumb as a can of paint.  

For example, if you have never gone to college, you are probably not the right person to give advice to a person who is about to go to college.  That should make perfect sense, you did not go to college, you have no advice on the matter.  Silence!

If you have been to college, lived in dorms, and actually graduated, I think you could have some advice that might be worth sharing with new college goers; oh, unless, of course, after going to college, living in a dorm, and graduating college you end up living with your parents and you are more than 45 years old.  That screams that living in a college dorm did nothing for you and going to college did not really prepare you to live an independent life because if it did, why are you living with mommy and daddy?  You have no advice to offer a new college goer, things did not end well for you.  Shut your piehole. 

If you have gone from state-to-state-to-state and back saying you were going to attend college but ended up failing and dropping out every semester, moving again, attending another college, dropping out again.  Then you move back in with your parents so they can figure out what to do with you.  They end up spending a pretty penny buying you a certificate so that you could actually get a job and make money because college was not your thing, obviously.  You are not qualified to give advice to new college goers.  

See that is what I mean about giving advice to people.  None of the people in the above scenarios should legit be giving out advice for a new college goer.  Make sure you are actually a good source of information on the advice you want to share or don't share it.

As exhausting as the last few weeks have been.....

With two different movies, five different set locations, daytime shoots, overnight shoots, last minute changes, last minute notices, barely enough money to cover the gas, 14 hour days, and no time to do anything else after coming off set, my kiddos have been upgraded to have featured parts.  So exciting!!!



Whoo hoo, we're going to Hollywood!  Going Hollywood tonight!

Prison Break Tuesday............

Monday, best day of the week.............

16 already........

Happy birthday to my SuperGirl!

Cannot even believe it has been 16 years since you demanded to be born six weeks early to show the world what an awesome girl you are.

You are loud, spunky, spontaneous, and so much fun to be with.  I am proud to call you my daughter.

Happy birthday!!

Its a chocolate fountain birthday party.........

A15 decided to change things up and instead of cake, all she wanted was friends and a chocolate fountain.  Easy peasy!

We had all the usual chocolate fountain delights.  Pound cake, marshmallows, pretzel rods, pretzel sticks, strawberries, bananas, Pringles, rice Krispies treats, and chocolate; lots of chocolate.

Don't look in to the light, Mikael is back tonight on The Originals..............

Makin' it.............

Check out this amazing recipe for a Butternut Black Bean Burger.  I almost fainted when I saw the picture on Pinterest, like for real~!  Fainted!  We love black bean burgers!

So I found the recipe here at Peas and Crayons.  There are a lot of other goodies I am going back to check out later.

Really excited to give this a try.

The picture and the recipe belong to Peas and Crayons blog site.  I am sharing it because we are going to try it out.

Of course, I may modify this or that because I can.  The great thing is the burger is naturally vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free.

This is what is in the masterpiece:

• 1 flax egg [1 TBSP ground flax + 3 TBSP water] or 1 egg we will go with a flax egg
• 1 cup mashed black beans [refried black beans work too!]
• 1 cup pureed butternut squash
• 1/3 cup diced onion
• 1/3 cup diced celery
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
• 1 TBSP olive oil [or butter]
• 3/4 tsp salt-free Italian seasoning blend [like mrs. dash]
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley [or fresh if you have it!]
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1.5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats [not instant]

• the toppings:
• 4 burger buns  Definetly going for the poppyseed onion bun.

• 4 slices of pepper jack cheese We are going with vegan cheese by Follow Your Heart.  You can find their website here.  We will try smoked gouda.  Seems like a good fit.  If you have not tried Follow Your Heart Vegan cheese, stop now, and go get some.  If cheese was stopping you from being vegan, you don't have that problem any longer if you buy this cheese.  It goes anywhere and everywhere cheese goes, and it did not come from a cow.  Cow milk is, afterall, for baby cows.  
• romaine lettuce
• fresh baby spinach
• mayo [store-bought or homemade] mixed with sriracha chili sauce So we don't do mayo(((((gross)))))).  No way, no how.  I literally cannot look at mayo.  If we use this sauce, we will go with Veganaise and sriracha sauce.
• Instructions
  1. Whisk together 1 TBSP ground flax with 3 TBSP water and pop it in the fridge to set.
  2. Next mash black beans in a large bowl and set aside. Alternatively you can use refried black beans, I've made it both ways! Measure to ensure you have a cup and you're good to go.
  3. Add your butternut squash to the beans and set aside.
  4. Next saute onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil until tender and near-translucent, adding the minced garlic towards the end to prevent burning.
  5. Season the veggies with your Italian seasoning blend, salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and parsley and stir to coat.
  6. Add the freshly sauteed veggies to your beans and squash and stir in your oats.
  7. Remove your flax egg from the fridge and add it to the bowl.
  8. Stir to fully incorporate and roll mixture into four balls.
  9. For optimal burger shape, cup each ball in your hands and squeeze tightly, rotating as you gently, but firmly, press it into a disc.
  10. Giggles aside, pop your burgers onto a plate, cover with foil or cling wrap and refrigerate as you prep your buns [or lettuce wraps!] and toppings. This will give them a little while to set. You can even leave them overnight and cook them up the following day. I often make one after 15-30 minutes of chill time and cook up the rest the following day.
  11. Ready to eat?
  12. Pour a tablespoon or two of oil in a skillet and heat to medium-high, so the burgers sizzle when you add them to the pan!
  13. Cook for a few minutes on each side until you're left with a golden crust. and a warm center. Repeat for each burger, or cook two at once if you have a big enough pan! I'd skip crowding all four together just because they're a pain to flip when all up in eachother's business. A tip for perfectly shaped veggie burgers? While sizzling away in the skillet, I use my spatula to gently help form the sides into a perfect disc. Works like a charm!
  14. Slather your buns with sriracha mayo, pile them high with lettuce, spinach, pepper jack and top each with a yummy butternut burger. Enjoy!
  Enjoy we will!  Thanks Peas and Crayons.

Today's call time 5:30 p.m.........

I have been posting helpful info about working in movies, as extras, smaller parts, or making your way to the top.  C17's call time today is 5:30 p.m. which may sound wonderful but let me tell why it is not.

A call time of 5:30 p.m. means all night, all freakin' night!  Lucky for me, she is able to be dropped off on the set but for you folks with younger kids in the production, forget about it.  If they are there, you are there; all.night.long!  Your child will need to sleeping during the day and sleep as long as possible.  Like I said before, what ever time they start, a good rule is to add 12 hours to that time, i.e.-5:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. and know it will possibly be an addition 2 hours.  If you are a drop off parent, be back at 5:30 a.m.  These kids are tired, and they need to go home!

Today's location is about 1-1/2 away from where we live, and I will confess, I am no navigator.  I can get lost pretty much anywhere, anytime.  We are all used to it.  We also have to drive through the insanity that is The ATL.  Oh my gawd Atlanta traffic is the worse, even more so since the collapse of a major bridge two weeks ago.  Anyway, all of this means that to be on time (never be late remember) we need to leave at 3:00 p.m.  I will probably even shoot for 2:45.

What to do when you arrive.  First, find the sign in table and get to work on your paper work.  If you have been there before, usually you can just write "on file" and keep going.  Then head over to wardrobe.  That is where the people with sweat pants will be waiting to tell you what to wear.  Don't get me wrong, I love sweat pants and yoga pants, its just funny to have someone in sweats tell you what to wear.  After wardrobe go to hair, then go to make up, or the other way around depending on the line.  After you have done that, find a place to sit and chill.  They never have a start time.

If you are a parent with a younger child and will be waiting the 14 hours out (been there, done that too many times to count) God help you.  If you are a parent that has to stay, please, please, please leave your little ones at home!  If you have dropped your older child off and you have to come back and get them, set your alarm, get up, and go.  We only have one car so I will be setting my alarm for 3:30 a.m. (wonderful).

Working parents with a child in a production.  This one is very tricky, especially for a single parent like me.  I am so fortunate that I can work from home but that does not mean I don't have to do the work, I do even if I have been awake half the night driving long distances and getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep before.  I have to stay awake all day to work and do the other million and a half things I have to do, hopefully sleeping a few hours, and then drive out of here in the darkness but both of my kiddos love to be in movies so I make it happen one way or another.  They are both booked for overnight shoots Monday and Tuesday so same things as above. Also, after you pick up your child, you will probably want to sleep all day like them but no such thing will happen.  Work and other tasks still have to get done so plan on not a lot of sleep even when the overnight shoot is over.

That is basically what an overnight shoot will entail, of course, anything is subject to change at any minute.  The production people fly by the seat of their pants and make up stuff as they go. Sometimes, they don't even know anything.

Hope this helps and quiet on the set.

Scofield...........

~

We can't wait to check in to The Bates Motel tonight.............

So your kid wants to start out being an extra in movies...........

My kiddos have been extras in several movies and web series the last couple of years, and I have been very observant of what goes on behind the scenes of these productions so I thought I would post my observations for other parents who have actors in the making.  This kind of work requires an especially dedicated parent who is willing to give, be patient, and be flexible so their kid can have the opportunity to give it a try but be warned, it is not always a lot of fun, sometimes its no fun at all.  I am an encouraging parent, I want my kids to be free and try things they are interested in.  It helps them define who they are and what they like.

The do's and don'ts in random order.

Don't be late!

If you child is 15 and under, you must stay on set with them until they have wrapped up for the day, all.day.long!

Bring a lot of things to keep you busy.

You will feel like you are in a panic room after the first couple of hours.

If you are a parent staying and you have younger kids tagging a long, they will be exhausted, bored,

and overstimulated all at the same time.

I feel so sorry when I see these kids.

Please, find a babysitter!  They don't need to be there 14 hours.

Don't expect to know what time the day will begin or end.

They will send you an email/text usually 10 hours (if you are lucky) before you should be on set the next day.  Don't bother trying to find out before that because you won't.

You must respond to the email/test right away with a message that they script.

This is blah blah, and I will be on time and lottie dah dah......Don't respond in any other fashion.

Whatever time you start, plan on staying 12 hours after that time no matter what and be prepared to stay at least 2 additional hours.

Also, plan on waiting around for a long time between takes or when you are not in a scene.  Bring something to do.

Be prepared to do the same scene for at least two hours; over and over and over, the same thing!  This is crazy to me.

Try your best not to cancel on them if you have agreed to work a day.  They could blacklist you.

Don't get caught taking pictures on set or of any of the famous folks.

You will get you butt kicked and thrown out.


You can use your phone, just not on set and never aimed at an actor, ever!

Don't talk loud when they are filming.

You can talk but remember, they have serious equipment that can pick up every word you say and that is not good, you could be talking trash, and as it turns out, they can hear what you have said.

Plus if they can hear you, they will tell you to knock it off or leave.

No fangirling allowed.

If you are working with the famous peeps, don't yell their names, run up to them, take pics of them, or even talk to them (unless you are in a scene with them and talking is called for).  Just don't.  Or do and then take your leave.

When your kid gets a "paid" part try to remember of all the expenses you will have to endure in order for your kid to "get paid."  Gas, food, and clothing.

Time spent away from your job and household responsibilities.

It all adds up so by the time your kid gets a check, it amounts to about what you have already spent in order for them to be a part of the production.

In five days, I filled up my gas tank four times going back and forth but this is the kind of parent I am, I want my kids to have opportunities (another reason they are home-schooled).

Bring snacks.  So they have food on set but its not gourmet and is usually high fat, high sugar food, overly-processed.

If you have a special needs diet, diabetes, vegan, etc, bring your own meal.  Everyone gets the same food.

Do your own make up and do such a good job that the make up crew does not have to do anything for you.  They use the same make up brushes and make no effort to clean them in any way between people.  That's just gross!  They really need to use disposable.

Same thing with hair, follow the guidelines that are in your email/text and hope for the best, same brushes, same combs, same everything.  Pray the person in front of you does not have head lice.

The wardrobe people kind of crack me up.  They usually are just wearing sweats and T-shirts so honestly how can they recommend clothes?  Just saying.  They are not all that stylish.  They are nice though.  That's something.

They will tell you how to dress and how many outfits to bring but if you cannot come up with enough outfits, wardrobe will find something for you.

The problem with borrowing wardrobe is that they take your pay sheet, you won't get it back until you return what they gave you or you don't get paid.  Plus you have to wait in line to return it.

The shuttles are so much fun, not!  You have to park in a certain location to be transferred like cattle to another location, usually ten minutes away.

Hope the crew members are all in a good mood.

I will give it to them, they work extremely hard, and they continue working even after the actors are gone.

There is a lot that goes in to keeping things run smoothly.  I personally could never do any of their jobs.  I wouldn't want to unless I had to.

There is absolutely not one thing glamorous about their jobs.  I'm not even sure if they enjoy it.  I would guess not, they are locked in to at least 16 hours a day.  It seems like a pretty thankless job too.  Hopefully, they are making a lot of money.

Prepare your brain to deal with the different types of people on set.

You will find a variety of personalities from the people who think they are better than everyone else, whiners, complainers, and of course, the cliques.

Then there are the know-it-alls who have been be extras once or twice and will proceed to inform you of what to do and what not to do even if you don't ask.  Just smile and say thanks but don't follow any of their advice, for real.

The busybodies.  They just want to be in everyone's business.  Ignore politely.

And finally, the glory-hounds.

These people try to take credit for things in the production they aren't actually even doing.

They will add their own names to the IMDb page above even the famous actors.  Just let them have their moment.  It is all they have to cling to.  It means so much to them.

Adding people to the IMDb page is for the movie people to do, not you.  They may even get annoyed you had the nerve to do so.

So there is my know-it-all advice to you parents of offspring who aspire to be actors (even if it is just for fun and not a serious dream your kid has of being famous one day) is to just chill.  Sit back and relax, its not like you are going any where any way.  And even though you yourself will be broke, dead tired, and playing catch up at work; an experience like this is immensely beneficial for your kid.  It is a fantastic learning experience not everyone has the chance to have.

It can also help to rationalize why a movie

ticket can costs so much.  Think about it.  They have to pay the high budget actors (and have to provide accommodations while filming), the crew, the director(s), the producer(s), the location fees, the shuttle buses and drivers, the parking lots, the caterers, the extras, and who knows else.

They run scenes over and over trying to get the perfect scene.

Some scenes take longer to set up for or run longer.

There is a lot going on and every minute costs money.

I'm not saying I like paying $14 to see a movie, I'm just saying now I understand a little better why it is so expensive.  But that doesn't explain why popcorn is $12 and a Coke is $8.  That is still a mystery.  A mystery indeed.

I hope this helps someone out there with an actor in the making.  I have to wind this up now because C17 has a 5:30 call time in the morning so quiet on the set please!