Thursday, February 26, 2015

Paranormal Jokes and Haiku now available!

I just published my fourth book, Paranormal Jokes and Haiku, and it's available for Kindle (if you don't have a Kindle, you can download a Kindle app and read it on other devices).

http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-Jokes-Haiku-Crystal-Smith-Connelly-ebook/dp/B00U1SPTZM/

Paranormal Jokes and Haiku explores the lighter side of the paranormal...you won't get scared reading these poems and corny jokes about ghosts, aliens, Bigfoot, and other creatures of the unknown!  The book contains 49 haiku and 26 groan-inducing jokes from paranormal blogger Crystal Smith-Connelly (of the blog Why would you want to be normal when you could be paranormal?).

Why do they call him
Bigfoot?  Are they trying to
Make him self-conscious?

What is a ghost's favorite instrument?
The boo-kulele


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

UFO-shaped Buildings

Roswell has a McDonald's that looks like a UFO, so I was interested to see some other buildings that are shaped like UFOs.  The World UFO Day website has some cool examples:

http://www.worldufoday.com/ufo-shaped-buildings/

There used to be a UFO-shaped restaurant right outside LAX...every time we went to L.A., it was on our list, but we're always so busy in L.A. that we never got around to going.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/arts-and-entertainment/20140107/encounter-restaurant-atop-lax-theme-building-closes-for-good

There's also the UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, SC:

http://ufowelcomecenter.blogspot.com/

If you know of any other buildings that look that UFOs, let me know in the comments. : )

Friday, February 20, 2015

Movie Spotlight: Horns

Horns is a 2013 movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner, James Remar, Kathleen Quinlan, Heather Graham, and David Morse.  I really liked Joe Hill's novel, so I've been excited to see this movie.  When Merrin Williams (Juno Temple) is raped and murdered, the police suspect Ignatius Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe); though he denies that he killed his girlfriend, his friend Lee (Max Minghella) is the only one who believes him.  One night Ig gets drunk after attending a vigil for Merrin and wakes up the next morning to discover that he now has a pair of horns growing out of his head...and as if that weren't strange enough, he soon realizes that the horns have the power to get people to reveal their darkest secrets to him.  He decides to use his new power to try to find out who killed Merrin and get them to confess.

Movie adaptations of novels often end up disappointing the people who enjoyed the books,  but I didn't have this experience with Horns.  I really enjoyed it and thought Daniel Radcliffe did a great job as Ig.  The only complaint I have about the movie is that there were snakes in it, and I wish snakes were never in movies because they make my skin crawl. ; )

My rating: 8/10

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Breaking Boo Ghost Tour

Are you a fan of Breaking Bad who also loves the paranormal?  Tours of Old Town in Albuquerque has just what you need: the Breaking Boo Ghost Tour.  The tour guides are local actors who have actually worked on the set of Breaking Bad, and they take up to 13 people in an RV to check out locations from the show that are rumored to be haunted.  The tour takes place the last Saturday of each month, and tickets are $45.  I'm going to Albuquerque this summer, and I really want to do this, but we'll be in Colorado the last Saturday in June, so we won't be able to take the tour.  If any of you guys go (or have already gone) and would like to write a guest post about your experience, email me at crystalsmithconnelly@yahoo.com and let me know!

For more info about the Breaking Boo Ghost Tour, check out the Tours of Old Town website, and click on "Special Tours."

http://www.toursofoldtown.com/ 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Movie Spotlight: The Pact

The Pact is a 2012 movie starring Caity Lotz, Agnes Bruckner, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Casper Van Dien, Haley Hudson, Dakota Bright, Samuel Ball, Mark Steger, and Bo Barrett.  Nicole Barlow (Agnes Bruckner) has returned to her childhood home in San Pedro, California, for her mother's funeral.  She calls her sister Annie (Caity Lotz), who says she doesn't want to attend the funeral because of the way their mother treated them.  Nicole is talking to her daughter Eva (Dakota Bright) on video chat, walking around with the laptop to get a better connection, when Eva asks, "Who's that behind you?" The connection is lost, and Nicole notices an open door; she enters the dark room.  The next day, Annie arrives at the house, and Nicole is nowhere to be found; she hears a phone ringing and finds Nicole's cell phone and a picture of her mother and another woman, taken while they were both pregnant.  Annie attends the funeral and returns to her mother's house with her cousin Liz (Kathleen Rose Perkins) and Eva, who Annie is meeting for the first time.  That night Annie dreams about a crying man, and a map pops up on her phone; when she wakes up, she sees someone in the hallway, so she checks Liz's room and discovers that Liz is not in her bed.  Annie is attacked by something she can't see, and she manages to get away and escape the house with Eva.  The police don't believe Annie when she tells them what happens, and they think she might be behind the disappearances of Liz and Nicole.  When Annie goes to a motel, she notices the map on her phone, and when she searches for the pinned address, a picture of a woman in a floral dress shows up; that night she dreams about the crying man again, and this time a decapitated woman in a floral dress also appears in the dream. The next day Annie returns to her mother's house with Officer Creek (Casper Van Dien), and she finds a room she has never seen before.  Since the police aren't taking her seriously, Annie gets a psychic named Stevie (Haley Hudson) to come to the house; in the newly discovered room, Stevie starts having convulsions and screams the word "Judas" over and over again, then a dead woman in a floral dress appears above them.  Annie does some research trying to find out who Judas is and how he's connected to her mother's house, and she's shocked by what she discovers.

The Pact isn't terribly exciting or scary, but it was pretty well-written compared to many of the paranormal movies I've seen.  I'm not sure I liked it enough to watch the sequel though.

My rating: 6.5/10


Saturday, February 7, 2015

Movie Spotlight: Annabelle

Annabelle is a 2014 movie starring Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Alfre Woodard, Tony Amendola, and Eric Ladin.  It is a spin-off of The Conjuring (you can find my movie spotlight of  that here: http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/11/movie-spotlight-conjuring.html).  It's 1969, and John and Mia Form (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis) are expecting their first baby.  John surprises Mia with a creepy doll that she's been trying to find for years (I will never understand why people collect old, creepy dolls).  That night Mia hears a murder happening next door, and when John goes to investigate, Mia is attacked by a woman who is holding the doll and then stabbed by the woman's male accomplice.  The police burst in and shoot the man, and the woman commits suicide, dying with the doll in her arms.  Mia and John learn that their neighbors were murdered by their daughter, Annabelle Higgins, and her boyfriend, who were members of a satanic cult called Disciples of the Ram.  Mia decides she no longer wants the doll, so John throws it away...but that doesn't stop the doll from making their lives a living hell.

I've been wanting to see Annabelle since I first heard about it, but I didn't want to see it in a dark theater, so I'm glad it's finally on DVD.  It wasn't quite as scary as I thought it would be, but I won't be buying any dolls in the near future. ; )

My rating: 7.5/10


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Paranormal Pet: Buster the dog

This cute vampire is Buster, who belonged to my good friend Alice Batchelor Hambright.  Buster was a therapy dog, and he was loved by all who met him.