A Bloody Valentine's Day




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  I had a crazy busy Valentine's Day weekend this year, and several unique holiday experiences. I went through one of the most frightening haunted houses I've ever experienced, and attended an extravagant Valentine's Day party in an apartment that looks like Versailles. That second one is for a later post.

Here is my review of Blood Manor, a fast yet bone-chilling haunted house that is sure to give you the creeps:

Blood Manor’s Bloody Valentine’s Day Haunted House, located in the West Village, may not be for everyone. But for those who love the thrill of being sincerely frightened, you will not want to miss it.

I’ve been through my fair share of haunted houses, and seen a ton of horror movies. A Halloween buff who is not so easily scared, I can say with pretty good conviction that Blood Manor is really scary- and I absolutely loved it.

The house, created and run by Halloween aficionados Jim Faro, Mike Rodriguez and Jim Lorenzo, has been running for the past eight consecutive Halloweens. This is the second time the house has also run for Valentine’s Day.

Depending on how fast you walk, or run through, the entire event only lasts about 15 minutes. But your heart will be racing and you will feel pretty terrified the entire time. Entering the house through a set of swinging doors, a series of elaborate rooms with intricate and highly realistic horror scenes await you. Many inspired by horror/murder movies like Sweeney Todd and Saw, you truly feel like you’re walking into a murder scene, or that a serial killer is just lurking in the shadows.

The characters are extremely intense and have no fear of creepy eye contact. While they don’t touch you, they are also not afraid to get in your face or trap you alone in the corner of a room. This happened to me in one of the last rooms of the house- characters directed me to what I thought was an exit to the next room, but was really just an empty corner. Then several of them surrounded me. Needless to say I got out of there as fast as I could.

While the characters did an excellent job of scaring the living daylights out of me, there was also a lot of excellent technical work in the house. Some rooms contained animatronic monsters and others had light systems purposefully meant to be disorienting. Others had flat screen televisions with zombies slowly creeping closer, until before you know it they are in front of you, so close you can feel them.

I would give more details about the horror that I went through, but I don’t want to give it all away. Half the fun was not knowing what to expect next.

Faro said the intensely horrific scenes are the result of hours of planning and preparation. By going to trade shows and constantly brainstorming for new ideas, the three owners end up changing about 30 percent of the show each year. “It’s a year round process mentally,” Faro said. “It’s a lot of work, but we love it. I always had a great love for Halloween. I really enjoy people enjoying it.”

I am certainly one of those people who enjoyed it, and I plan on going back this Halloween.

Vintage Valentines

There is this wonderful little store near my new apartment that specializes in old art prints and more modern works of art. Located on Lexington Ave. between 29th and 30th Streets, The Old Print Shop offers dozens if not hundreds of antiquarian maps, 18th and 19th century prints, satirical works of art, photography, and various other vintage art prints. It also offers beautiful work done by contemporary artists.

This store has been up and running since 1898 unbelievably, with its first location at Fourth Ave. between 9th and 10th Streets. It has been on Lexington Ave. since 1925. The Old Print Shop has historically focused on important art it believes the public has overlooked, and was instrumental in growing 19th century American painting and primitive art and sculpture collections in the 1940s and 50s.

While the entire store is a great treasure trove to dig through some Saturday afternoon, The Old Print Shop is displaying and selling an especially cool collection of artwork right now: vintage valentines, honoring the upcoming romantic holiday this Tuesday.

No one so sweet, : No one so true, : In all the Earth : There is none like you.

Hundreds of beautifully-crafted and ornate little Valentine's Day cards are waiting for you to sift through and marvel at them. Spanning the Victorian era up through the 1950s and 60s, there is a huge variety in terms of style and quality. Some are just gorgeous designs but with no written words; others are both artful and poetic, expressing feelings of love, romance and happiness.

Star of my Heart : I miss thee each lone hour, : Star of my heart! : No other voice hath power : Joy to impart! : I listen for thy hasty step, : Thy kind sweet tone...

I was drawn in to this seasonal sale by the store's window display, where several of the cards were featured. When I walked in to check them out, I had no idea there would be so many to admire. I fell in love with several, but unfortunately could not afford to buy any of them. Instead I settled on a card that wasn't quite so rare or vintage, but that still had an image I loved: the profile of an 18th-century French woman with gigantically tall hair. Cupid is sitting in front with his bow at the ready, as if her hair is a conquering army and cupid is the vanguard.

The image is paired with an interesting poetic phrase: Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, and beauty draws us with a single hair.

I was so captivated by both the image and the words, I had to buy this. It was also really cheap in comparison to the others, so that helped too. While relatively small, I'm hoping to frame it and hang it in my room someday soon.

If you're looking to see something totally new, rare and interesting in your Valentine's Day shopping this year, check out The Old Print Shop. I have a feeling I'm going to be checking out this place more than once.

Shame

Last night I saw Michael Fassbender's new movie, Shame, filmed in New York City. It was the most intense and psychologically-draining film I have ever seen, and I recommend it strongly.


This film has been getting a lot of buzz lately and for good reason. If you haven't heard about it however, check out the trailer here. Fassbender is Brandon, a handsome and successful businessman who seemingly has a lot of good things going for him, but who is hiding a very sinister addiction: an addiction to sex.


He masturbates daily in the office bathroom. His computer hard drive at work and at home is full of every type of porno you can think of. His closets are full of it too. He frequently has sex with women online or with prostitutes, never with women whom he knows.


While such a problem might be hidden successfully when you are living alone, it is not so easy when someone begins to invade your privacy. Enter Sissy, Brandon's troubled and emotionally-dependent sister who moves in with him unexpectedly. It doesn't take long before her reappearance and the obvious tension between them begins to unravel Brandon's life.


The film focuses largely on Brandon's addiction and on his relationship with his sister. We see him spiraling out of control and hitting rock bottom in extremely visceral and emotional scenes.


Fassbender's performance is stellar. He gets all the subtleties in body language perfect, and all the raw emotions his character must be facing: the glint of his eyes as he moves from a woman's face to her legs, the train-wreck agony and self-loathing in his facial expressions as he sleeps with yet another prostitute.

The film does a really great job examining the intricacies and hard realities of addiction. Using long, clear screen shots in some scenes and narrow, unfocused shots in others help you feel the constant shift between being in control and being out of control. Brandon balances these moments back and forth throughout the movie, with each out-of-control scene getting harsher and harsher, and therefore more difficult to watch. The directors knew exactly how to shoot each scene, and Fassbender did a spectacular job all along the way.

Shame is not for the easily squeamish- it was rated NC-17 for its graphic sexual content- yet it is a must-see for those who can stomach it. It is a movie you will never forget, and that will leave you thinking for a very long time.  

Occupy Wall Street

I have to write something about Occupy Wall Street. It fascinates me and I feel really lucky to be so near to the epicenter of it all. Tonight was the biggest protest yet, with conservative estimates of 15,000 people marching in downtown New York City. While it was too dark to get any good photographs, I happened to take a bunch when I visited Zuccotti Park on Sunday. Here is a slideshow of my photos: