Word

These past few days have been so awful.

Going into the details isn't necessary, but it's no fun.

So, this blog's just going to encompass a few "lighter notes" that I've found uplifting during these past few days. 

As most of you know, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is coming out March 5, 2010. I've heard mixed reviews based on the trailer and whatnot. I honestly do think that Burton's long-awaited version of this story will be an utter success. No doubt in my mind. The special effects (CGI mixed with live-action) look wonderful. I realize I'm forming an opinion based on a trailer that's only a minute and a half, but I have complete and total faith in the newest Burton/Depp collaboration. Plus, Helena Bonham Carter is going to be The Red Queen. You can't really go wrong with HBC.

Speaking of HBC, I was just googling her today and came across a few things about her via Wikipedia that I did not know. I found out that she collaborated with a designer named Samantha Sage. I had never heard of Samantha Sage, but the creations look unique and cute. The pants (aka Pantaloonies) aren't really my cup of tea, but the corsets and shorts are rather cute. I also found out that she lent her voice to an MTV domestic violence PSA. Interesting little fact, I suppose.

I've also become increasingly fond of Marissa Nadler and her music. I had liked her from the moment I'd heard "Diamond Heart" a few years ago via a playlist on a clothing website. Her voice is different. The guitar she plays doesn't really vary too much from song to song but her beautiful and haunting voice make up for the lack of musical variety. I'd been looking up song of her song lyrics the other day and I was clicking on links based on the song titles. I came across the lyrics to a song called "Daisy and Violet" (sometimes called, "The Story of Daisy and Violet"). I was hooked, just by the words alone. I instantly logged into imeem and typed in the song title and found it, heard it and was completely satisfied. The song was haunting, even more so than "Diamond Heart". After trying to find it on Limewire and literally everywhere online, an mp3 was not to be found! It had to have been one of the best songs I had ever heard and I wasn't able to get it! So, disappointed and annoyed, I sat down, plugged my headphones into my Macbook and listened to the story of Daisy and Violet Hilton over and over again.

For those of you who don't know, Daisy and Violet Hilton (not relation to world-famous idiot Paris) were twins who were conjoined and performed as singers and overall entertainers in side-shows and in vaudeville. They were attached at the hips and they worked at a grocery store. They were trained in jazz and tap dancing, appeared in Tod Browning's 1932 cult-hit Freaks. 

Sadly, Daisy and Violet died at age 60 due to Hong Kong flu. Daisy died first and Violet, still attached to her dead sister, died a few days after. 

Here are the lyrics to Marissa Nadler's "Daisy and Violet"

Daisy and Violet work at the market
I hear they used to live on the road
Somebody told me singing in side-shows
Joined at the hips of the songs that they wrote

Daisy and Violet come in a vision
Double the pleasure, double the fun
Singing a harmony on a sister
Could sing of the times and the freedom they won

Daisy fell ill and was followed by Violet
A neighbor would find them dead on the ground
Somewhere inside the mind of a child 
Are harmonies only a sister could sing

Elephant Man died in his own bed
The neck that he had had a heart of its own
They said that his mother was crushed by a monster
When he was inside her an elephant gnome

A penny for the sisters and a penny for the man

I'll give it back to you when I can

A penny for the sisters and a penny for the man

They'll make a killing in my caravan

The song is beautiful. Here's the link if anybody cares to take a listen. It'll probably only show up as a 30 second preview if you don't have an imeem account, but it's not even on itunes, so if I were you, I'd listen in. 

That is all. 

Bye.