Things I learned at Borders.

Sounds like a pretty mundane day — do the 9-to-5 job thing, head to Borders on my lunch break to scope out the next book I’ll fall in love with and claim is the best I’ve ever read. (I do that.) But, have you, ah, been in a Borders lately? No, you say? I suggest you go, especially if you are a reader of this blog. Why? Paranormal pop culture has taken over the bookstore.

Every other table is brimming with para-lore: vampires, dragons, monsters, ghosts, witches. It’s absurd! My eyes were big as (flying) saucers the minute I stepped in the door. Edward Cullen bookbags, True Blood posters, troll dolls, the whole shebang. Of course, I ate it up. But I thought: what about all these other people? So I thought I’d do a case study. My victim: A 40-something woman in scrubs I found lingering around the Jodi Piccoult section, the antithesis to para-anything.

She wandered from Piccoult to Emily Giffin’s Something Borrowed to the “newest” Jane Austen-angled modern rom-com, this one with cover art so trite I didn’t even bother to get closer to make a note … that and the fact that she was casting me sidelong glances, most likely wondering why I was following her.

I lost interest, and lost her, until I saw some blue-on-blue streak across the floor and make a beeline to the vamp table. I clicked a pic (above) of the sign that lured her (first-name basis? Jealous). She eventually went with a Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novel — Dead Until Dark. I casually asked her if she watched True Blood or read Twilight, but the answer was no to both. So why did she pick this particular book? “All I hear about lately is vampires.”

What a world, huh? Vampires and their ilk have infiltrated our lives. They’re our dinner guests, our chitchat over coffee. How weird is that? In addition to the vampire books, I saw quite a few people walk away with A. Lee Martinez’s Monster, about a quirky boyfriend/girlfriend pest control team for which the word “pest” means anything from yeti to demon; and Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater's para-romance about a girl named Grace and a shapeshifter/werewolf named Sam (must be a popular name for shifters).

Forget about things that go bump in the night. Readers are deliciously devouring these para-themed books all hours of the day. And speaking of shapeshifting — I loved one author’s take on the Twilight phenomenon: Defining Twilight, an SAT vocab practice book that explicitly explains what Stephanie Meyer means when she describes Edward’s eyes as “ocher.”

Paranormal pop culture has won its battle with Borders. Next up? The World. Or, in the very least, a blog. — amy kates

The Winchester Mansion story get colorful

Chances are good that anyone remotely interested in ghosts and haunted houses has heard of the Winchester Mystery House story. The San Jose, California, house was built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester (the son of the man who gave the world the Winchester repeating rifle).

Believing her family was cursed and the ghostly victims of the famous gun required appeasement, Sarah began construction on the bizarre house in 1884 and had it continue round-the-clock under her death in 1922. There were no real designs for the building, and as a result, there are stairways that lead nowhere and doors that drop off into nothing.

For paranormal investigators, and fans of paranormal pop culture, this is one of the biggies.

It's exciting, then, that SLG Publishing is releasing a comic book in October that dramatizes the Winchester Mystery House story. Written by SLG founder Dan Vado, the story looks to have elements of truth, but is largely fictional. Also, master magician and paranormal debunker Harry Houdini - who Vado says conducted a seance in the house - will be a bad guy for the book.

Check out the trailer for the upcoming comic below, and pay a visit to our friends over at Newsarama, who have a cool little interview with Vado.

-aaron sagers




Winchester #1 trailer from SLG Publishing on Vimeo.

All Hail Thy Queen

She's coming! She's coming! Evan Rachel Wood (yes, THAT Evan Rachel Wood) will make her True Blood debut Aug. 30 as Queen Sophie-Ann.

The mother of all vamps, she outranks any sucker we've met in Louisiana. Her multi-epi arc will for sure bring all kinds of trouble to Bon Temps.

I am incredibly psyched that True Blood is giving us a powerful vampire woman for a change. Don't get me wrong — I heart Pam. She's great for comic relief and a fabulous pair of heels. But her power-wielding is seriously lacking. If Eric drank coffee, she'd be the one making it. And while the recent addition of the super-strong, super-evil Lorena is thrilling fun, makers are a dime a dozen around these parts.

Let's roll out the red carpet for Queen Sophie-Ann. And don't be too quick to judge her from this photo. She may be well-coiffed, sultry and practically dripping in pure white innocence, but methinks she will be the scariest thing we've seen yet.

— amy kates

Who you gonna call?

I've been finding my things in very odd places lately ... odder than usual. I admit to being the most scatterbrained person ever, so at first I didn't think much of finding my keys snuggled up in a towel in my linen closet. But then I remembered something I saw on TV once, about a "borrower ghost," who would playfully (ghosts are so ebullient, dahling) borrow the personal effects of the people whose home he was haunting. So after a few google searches (no, I'm not interested in earning $5,000 a month working from home as a ghost writer, thankyouverymuch), I hit on Texas Spirits. 

According to their "DOPler Effect," (Disappearing Object Phenomenon), your Casper thieves your stuff, takes it back to his ghostie lair for a few days, then, quietly tiptoeing down your halls, casually puts it back where it should be. 

So it's clear I don't have a DOP as much as early onset Alzheimer's because my things are never where they belong. I'm relieved I ruled that out, but I'm still troubled because more than one of the "16 signs you may have a haunting" applies to what goes down in my crib. As I type, my cat is scaring the crap out of me by eerily staring into my darkened dining room as if he sees something I don't. 

Check out Texas Spirts' go-to ghost signs. Just remember: No matter how hard you try, you can't paraproof your pad. Oh, and before you blame a ghost for that missing Ace of Base CD, hold your breath. That's just someone—or something— seriously looking out for your cool points. — amy kates

Vampires vs. Zombies, you say? I'm listening...

After writing last night about Empire magazine's "Ridiculous Movie Face-Off Titles," I started wondering about other potential showdowns. Naturally zombies and vampires came to mind.

A short trip to Amazon.com revealed that my potential million-dollar idea was already thought up in the movie titled - come on, you can guess it - Vampires Vs. Zombies.

Based on the cover art, it's hard to really tell who the zombie or the vampire is. The zombie is probably the deep-fried guy on the left, but I've never known zombies to have long nails and to rudely point at people. But why a vampire would need a knife really throws me off. Plus, why call it Vampires Vs. Zombies if you aren't going to feature the two main characters in order on the cover?

Still, this flick most certainly is groundbreaking stuff since it came out way back in 2004, long before vampires or zombies were trending items again. I mean, how can a movie with such an awesome name be anything but genius? Yes, it must be a steaming pile of pure brilliance.

Please, please let me know if you've seen this.

-aaron sagers

Hell comes to Hogwarts: The darkest Harry Potter movie moments

We picked up on this list from "The Moviefile Blog" on Television Without Pity a few weeks back but held on to it for just the right moment.

That moment came yesterday when I called various synonyms for effeminate by a random Borders bookstore fanboy after saying Sirius Black's death in Order of the Phoenix was a pretty gut wrenching and twisted moment in modern pop culture.

I hope I never see the aforementioned fanboy again, but I'll happily prove him wrong with a compilation of the "10 Most Effed-Up Harry Potter Moments (Pre-Half Blood)." It's a pretty solid list that really hits home the notion that, not only is Potter scribe Rowling a genius, she's also intent on screwing kids up throughout their entire puberty.

- aaron sagers

Lovely, it is indeed.

I know we're still clinging to sweet, sweet summer, but that doesn't mean we can't look ahead to big-time movie openings—the holiday behemoths. If you like ghost stories (and in this particular case, I'm certainly talking about one skewed decidedly female), I'm willing to bet you read Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. What do you call a New York Times bestseller these days? Why, a movie, you silly rabbit. And look who's at the helm: Peter Jackson. He's tackling the best of the paraworld. His resume boasts zombies, mystical rings, aliens and now ghosts. If you've read the book, I'm betting house money you never envisioned it quite like this. The trailer is breathtakingly visual. I read the book so long ago that it's fuzzy, but I do remember thinking, "I could totally buy this as a viable explanation of what comes after death." But the story wasn't told with this much color, that's for sure. If you haven't read the book, don't expect the traditional spooks, but it's a parathriller nonetheless. — amy kates

Bring out the 'Dead'

For some time now I've been following the horror-comedy I Sell The Dead. The movie, starring Dominic Monaghan of Drive Shaft, is about two grave robbers who get caught up in the "resurrection trade" and encounter creatures not content to stay six feet under.

The first feature film written and directed by Dubliner Glenn McQuaid, Dead appears to be an old-school, gallows humor ghost story in the vein of a 19th Century Shaun of the Dead. I missed it when it screened in New York City in late March, so I'm pretty psyched for this weekend's opening.

If the trailer and early reviews are any indication, this should be a good one. Depending on whether you live in one of those mysterious "limited release" zones, it may or may not be in a theater near you starting Friday. But if it isn't, visit IFC Entertainment to see if it will be showing on cable in your area beginning Aug. 12. I Sell the Dead is also being adapted into a comic by Image for an October release. - aaron sagers

'Empire' magazine strikes back at goofy movie face-offs

Our friends over at Empire movie magazine come up with some good ideas that make us a little jealous and a lot impressed. So impressed, in fact, that you can be guaranteed we'll never take to fisticuffs in a Empire vs. Paranormal Pop Culture showdown.

However, a little fighting is a good thing from time to time, as evidence by this fun Empire magazine feature about the "Top 10 Ridiculous Movie Face-Off Titles." The emphasis here being "ridiculous," without much attention paid to quality. Still, a majority of the entries are twinged with monsters, vampires, a couple Draculas and a few aliens - basically the stuff that butters our paranormal bag.

Take a look-see, and lest we miss an opportunity to re-post the best trailer of the last year - nay, last decade - remember that only god himself knows who will triumph in a "versus" battle between these two beasts below...

Jennifer's Hottie. Body. Whatever.

Oh, Megan Fox. You almost completely destroyed my relationship with Twitter ("i quit Twitter. Megan Fox is a trending topic? come on. 12:38 PM Jun 24th from web"), but, seeing as how I found your interview with Diablo Cody, et. al at Comic-Con so damn endearing (longingly clutching that Robert Pattinson EW-cover-turned-pillow sure helped your case), I'll come to terms with the fact that all it took was a distressed denim mini for you to dominate the planet Earth.

I like this new Jennifer's Body poster,  better than the True Blood send off my esteemed colleague pointed out weeks ago. The message scrawled on the blackboard made me chuckle, and I went all Lostpedia and tried to decipher any hidden meaning in the books she's clutching. There isn't.

But here's my beef: Diablo Cody, where you at, sister? You wrote this movie and let the poster slip through your skinny little fingers with a tagline as uninspiring as "She's evil ... and not just high school evil?" I do like your angle: crazy hot cheerleader babe goes all maneater in small-town America high school. It will be refreshing to have a chick do the demon thing for a change.

But come on! Where's the snap? You can't propel such brilliant witticisms as "food baby" and "kickin' it Old Testament" into my pop culture lexicon and get away with this. Poor effort, Diablo. Honest to blog.

— amy kates

Throw one back with a friendly neighbor vamp

Can't get into Fantasia? That darn dress code. It's killer. But check it out: You can have your very own vamp bar at home, you lucky sucker.

The HBO-backed product (I know, takes a little bite out of it, doesn't it?) is now available for pre-order for an early September shipping date.

The drink is an exact replica of what the vamps throw down the hatch every Sunday night on True Blood, but at a heavily reduced price. Bill and E-Rock shell out $40 each for a bottle o' blood, but HBO is only sticking you for $4 each. The carbonated "blood-orange" flavored (am I the only person who doesn't know what "blood orange" tastes like? Or is it a general problem with mortals?) soda is just dying to be paired with alcohol.

Some suggestions: Tru Blood + vodka = The Fangbanger, Tru Blood + peach schnapps, pineapple juice and vodka = Death on the Beach, and, my personal favorite, the Plasmotini: Tru Blood, citron, cointreau and lime juice. Jump on the bandwagon here. Bottoms up.

— amy kates

'SkyMall': The destination for wealthy Parapopper landowners

There are some things that exist in this universe that defy explanation. Normally I might be referring to ghosts or aliens, but not even they perplex me as much as SkyMall.

I've never met anyone who has actually purchased an item from this in-flight magazine of overpriced and useless crap. In fact, the only time I've ever witnessed a person looking through SkyMall is when a) they need a conversation topic with a seatmate, or b) they forgot a book, magazine, iPod, laptop, pillow, Ambien, booze or anything remotely distracting.

For a long while I've wanted to find a way to shoehorn SkyMall into the realm of Paranormal Pop Culture because I can't fathom how they manage to not only stay in business but continue to put a new catalog in airplane seatbacks with frequency.

Still, SkyMall has remained just in the "just normal" category - until now. There is a definite trend in the catalog to cater to parapoppers with disposable income and a lot of property.

Are you a cryptozoology enthusiast who wants to have a sighting every day on your very own lawn? Then don't miss out on the two-foot-tall resin Garden Yeti sculpture for only $98.95.

Have an undying love of the undead? Pick up the "life-size, gray-toned" Zombie of Montclaire Moors bust with lifelike eyes! For $89.95, this 13-pound brain eater is perfect for clawing his way out of your garden or family room.

Feeling alone and insignificant in the universe? Don't miss out on the Alien Gnome Bandits garden accents then! These little buggers from another galaxy run off with your garden gnome for a mere $149.95.

Also: Add a "South Seas accent" to your property with replicas of the mysterious Easter Island heads; "Delight the senses" with the Fairy of the West Wind sitting sculpture; Summon the ancient spirit of the forest with the Treebeard Ent statue.

So if you won't be flying anytime soon, but you are dedicated enough to the paranormal that you want to decorate your home or lawn with these items - or you're just in the mood for a drunk purchase - these can be purchased on the SkyMall website.

-aaron sagers