Calling and/or caterwauling all ghouls, goblins, gargoyles, gremlins, and giggling green ghosts: Spooky Season has arrived with all of its ghastly delights and gnarly frights. Hip-Hip-Horroray! Which means it’s time for another installment of Spooky, Not Scary™️, a watch-list of titles for all of us soft goths, tender terrors and nervous nellies. A quick recap for those of you just joining in: while Halloween and all its eerie marvels are my top vibe, I avoid the deeply distressing and downright disturbing imagery and atmosphere of most “scary” movies, tv, and even musical soundtracks, mostly because I have always had an immersively detailed dream and/or nightmare life, which often means I don’t really need the help or inspiration or taunting hauntings that that kind of media provides. Thanks, horror genre, but I can terrorize myself all on my own! 💀
So, to still celebrate this terrifically chilling time of year, I give you the following titles that are avowedly Spooky, Not Scary. Each title is rated on a scale of 0-5 smashed pumpkins. The more smashed pumpkins (which I’ve metaphorically dropped out of terror), the closer the tv show/movie/video is to being truly frightening.
Continue reading “Spooky, Not Scary Watch-List: Volume II aka BOO! 👻”
This time of year is perfect for some creepy crafts, but if I’m being honest I love all things spooky any time of year! See below for some of our favorite spine-tingling projects. Happy haunting! Continue reading “DIY Creepy Crafts”
Do you like journaling? Do you like art? What if I told you that you could combine the 2? And I’m not talking about bullet journaling. I’m talking tarot!
Tarot has been around for centuries in various forms, but we’re not going to dwell on the past here (the history of tarot is very interesting and if you want to learn more I encourage you to look it up). Nor are we here to predict the future.
Continue reading “Beginners Guide to Tarot”
If you’re anything like me, back-to-school time has become more stressful the older you become. When I was a small child, it was exciting. I got new school supplies! I had so many opportunities to make new friends! It felt like the world was in my hand. For me, that changed around middle school. Instead of excitement, I felt trapped by the weight of expectations. Instead of being happy to meet new people, I feared to learn what they thought of me. Instead of excitedly anticipating fun activities, I began to dread homework. It all felt frankly overwhelming. If this sounds like you, I promise you aren’t alone, and you don’t just have to grin and bear it. Over my years in high school and college, I learned ways to manage this back-to-school stress. Whether you’re just starting high school or you’re in your last year of university, hopefully, some of these hard-learned tips will be helpful for you! Continue reading “Managing Back To School Stress”
We had 42 entries for this year’s Cosplay Costume Contest and they were all wonderful and unique! After much deliberation, this year’s winners were selected. Thanks to our judges and all of our participants! Be sure to check out the DBRL Teen Instagram (@dbrlteen) for more pics!
Continue reading “DBRL Cosplay Costume Contest 2023 Winners”
Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes, but it’s even better when you can do it with friends! Better still is when you get so immersed in the movie that it feels like you are actually there. Hosting an interactive watch party is the best way to feel like you are IN the movie! Below we’ve included actions, printables and snack ideas so you can assemble your crew and watch along. Don’t have a printer at home? Don’t worry! Come to any of our buildings and we can help you print everything you need.
Continue reading “Host Your Own “The Avengers” Interactive Movie Party”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas in July and not halfway to Halloween. We’re only about 4 weeks away from our annual cosplay contest. Join us on Monday, August 14 from 6-9 pm at the Columbia Public Library for our first in-person CosPlay Con in 3 years! Dress up as your favorite character, be it superhero, anime, sci-fi or your own original persona. We’ll award prizes for the best costumes and characterization in different age categories, so be ready to show off your cosplay game! Photos and registration will begin at 6 p.m., followed at 6:30 p.m. by a runway show. All ages are welcome!
If you’ve been paying attention we’ve been hosting cosplay programs all year long to help you build your cosplay skills (or costume). Don’t worry if you haven’t attended them all. Below is a quick rundown of all the projects you might have missed. Continue reading “Cosplay @ DBRL”
While we can’t guarantee that these crafts will make you happy, who can be blue when you’re crafting with rainbows? Below are some fun, queer crafts you can try at home! Some of these activities are more difficult than others so we have ranked them with rainbows, so the more rainbows the more challenging the craft. Enjoy and happy crafting! Continue reading “Be Happy. Do Crafts.”
Warning: This blog contains spoilers for the series “Stranger Things,” plus a lot of fanning/fawning over New Wave/Synth Pop ROYALTY Kate Bush. Proceed with caution and/or get ready to dance your heart out.
It’s been a little over a year since the fourth season of Stranger Things debuted in two installments on Netflix in the early summer of 2022, and tbh I am still processing my feelings. I’ve been an avid watcher of Stranger Things ever since the first episode when Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers pulled her son Will (played by Noah Schnapp) close in his makeshift fort in the woods and endearingly screeched “What about my wiiiiiitch?” The series is famous for its 1980s pop culture nostalgia and homage to the films, television and music of that decade, but more generally I find that the show has just the right amount of heart, horror, humor and hair-raising adventure to keep me binging each season all in one go whenever it’s released. Plus, as someone who has basically wanted to be part of a Scooby gang and/or a Goonie all their life, I really admire how the show both explores and advocates for cross-generational friendships and community building, even in the face of (perhaps especially in the face of) truly gruesome ghouls from alternate dimensions.
But I’ll be honest, season four was rough. Continue reading “If You Like(d) Stranger Things . . .”
“There is a crack, a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in”
-Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”
This quote from a song by one of Lana Del Rey’s favorite singer/songwriters forms a kind of loose manifesto for her new album, “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” – the more cracks and flaws we have, and the more hardships we endure, the more compassionate, wise and humane we are capable of becoming. On her ninth studio album, the artist formerly known as Lizzy Grant is so cracked-open and vulnerable that it’s almost painful to listen to at times. What distinguishes “Ocean Blvd” from the rest of Lana’s catalog is the diaristic immediacy of the songs. Unlike her earlier work, Del Rey said in a recent interview with Billboard Magazine, “there’s no world-building…This music is about thought processing…Now, I just sing exactly what I’m thinking.” And what she’s thinking about on this album, beyond the perennial subject of romantic love, is family, faith, mortality, her troubled past and her uncertain future. Continue reading “Album Review: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey”
