LJ is finicky about video embeds, so we had to transfer this vid to YouTube and use the legacy code, but here it is now :-)

California Deathrock Behind-the-Scenes Photo Shoot Video

May 22, 2012 | Filed underBooks,Headline,Personalities,Video | Posted by Amelia G

It was hard to make this video happen because working on it was giving me the hugest spasm of shyness. Fortunately, Forrest Black and I still managed to bust it out. So now you can see behind-the-scenes footage of what our nightlife portraiture shoots look like, as part of the Kickstarter for our California Deathrock book project.

I love the idea of doing a creative project where I know how many to print beforehand. The way Kickstarter is set up, people pledge to get a copy of the book, but Amazon only charges them after the funding period is complete (in this case the end of the first week of June) and then only if the project is 100% funded. So far, our photo book project is 88% funded, so it looks like it is going to happen, which I am super happy and more than a little relieved about.

Special thanks to Death Guild and Release the Bats where some of this video was shot. Much love to Margo, Satoki, Thee Gabe, Domiana, Kat, Thistle (RIP), Talia, Christian, Jenn Bats, Dave Bats, Shane Taleda, Matt Riser, Eva O, and everyone else in the contact sheets and photos and video footage.

Anyway, just push play already please :-)

I'm going to be making a really huge life decision in the next 60 days. Right now, I am waiting to hear what my options are, so the ball is not even in my court. Yet I keep running scenarios in my head, trying to parse what options I want to be open to me. In a way, of course, I want to have a choice of all things. In a way, less choice might make the decision process easier.

I am kind of leaning toward making a big commitment. But closer to home than I'd initially thought I'd prefer. Apparently, I really feel like Los Angeles is my home these days and, upon examination, I just kind of like Los Angeles businesspeople better than San Francisco businesspeople. Although I do have a lot of friends in the Bay area, so it might be nice to have an excuse to visit regularly.

I've been in the media business for a long time, so I expect that is the industry I'll stay in. I like people with a passion for excellence. But I prefer people who don't believe excellence should come at the cost of one's basic human decency. And I enjoy human warmth. Wacky, I know. But I do really enjoy the company of people who always always always try to perform in the 99th percentile. Let me just spin this around my brain again 2,082 more times. Blargh.

Right now, I'm working on developing a throbbing headache and I really should be catching a little more sleep. Tonight will be a late night.

Gothic.net is seeking a new fiction editor. Gothic.net comes from a strong literary tradition, so the fiction editor will need to have exacting standards. The Gothic.net site receives more visitors every month than any other literary genre site on the net. Writers Gothic.net has published in the past include David J. Schow, Thomas S. Roche, Clint Catalyst, Maria Alexander, Poppy Z. Brite, Richard Matheson, Ramsey Campbell, and many more luminaries of the dark writing world.

Fiction editor will initially be responsible for reading all writing submissions and doing coverage on submitted fiction pieces. Fiction editor will then be responsible for contracting and copy-editing final selections and reporting a schedule for writer payouts. Must be proficient in Microsoft Word. WordPress, Excel, and Photoshop skills a plus. Ability to do writer outreach a plus. Please only apply if you are well-versed in literary horror and enjoy the genre. Honorarium pay will be quarterly and more beer money than absinthe money. You will, however, have the ability to put authors in front of a very large readership. Your good taste could break new authors and expose established authors to important audiences.

To apply, please email webmaster@gothic.net with the subject heading FICTION EDITOR. Please provide information on:
--why you want to do this
--three recent books or short stories you enjoyed with a sentence on why for each
--a few writers or publishers you enjoy with a sentence on why for each
--what conventions or other writing events you attend
--any editorial experience you have
--any experience you have contracting writers or other creatives
--any educational background you have
--your level of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPress, and Photoshop
The idea is to provide a sense of both your qualifications and your taste.

BlueBlood.net is looking for a fantasy expert to write about season 2 of Game of Thrones. BlueBlood.net is seeking someone who has access to HBO and is planning on watching the show and would like to write up each episode as it airs. Writer in New York time zone preferred. WordPress and/or Photoshop experience a plus. Having read the books optional, but it is essential that you never ever include spoilers. More features available if you have costuming or other production experience/insight and can write up the behind-the-scenes aspects in additional posts.

Please only apply for this if you will be able to write up every single episode of the season within a couple hours of it airing. This gig pays more than a standard blog entry, but only if you successfully write up every episode on time. Payment will be made the Monday after the last episode of the season. This is work for hire. Byline possible.

To apply, please send an email to submit@blueblood.net (or use the submission form) with information on your affinity for swords, sorcery, royalty, sociology, sex in media, and/or costuming, any speculative fiction criticism/review writing credits you might have, and what your skill levels are in WordPress, Photoshop, and general blogging. Please feel free to include anything additional on why you want to write this column. Possibility of longer term regular blogging work, if your column goes well.

Facebook's algorithm is truly terrible as figuring out which posts I want to read.

Facebook seems to be certain that my totally favorite thing in the world is when people -- who I otherwise think are fine humans -- spout high school sports team style, un-nuanced, and poorly-considered, contentious political opinions. Facebook thinks I am totally uninterested in good food, exciting concerts, Los Angeles travel plans, or anything which might be in any way pertinent to actual human connections.

When I first moved to California, I had made a detour in my life and gone through Georgia. The water is really hard there and I was all punk rock anyway, so my hair was kind of dreaded up, but not really with a design. And I hadn't had a professional haircut in many years at the time and hadn't had any haircut in a while. So I was staying with friends who lived walking distance from the Jose Ebere salon in Orange County. Which I walked over to. The folks at Jose Ebere looked at me kind of dubiously, but I have never accepted the idea that my identity means I don't get service, so they had to see it my way. A guy named Thierry took my disaster of a hairstyle and made it all sleek and California and exactly what I wanted at the time. So I've had Thierry cut my hair for the past 13 years, even after I was not staying anywhere near the salon, sometimes coming from as far away as Las Vegas to have him work his magic.

Unfortunately Vidal Sassoon bought out the Jose Ebere salon in Orange County. Once they took offer, the shampoos I got became really lackadaisical, which bothered me, but Thierry still did a true artist's job on my hair. He would get every little bit to fall just right and it would look so good when it moved or when I was still. So I kept going to him, although I did get my blowouts at a place in Koreatown.

Only the last time I went to Thierry, my haircut came out totally messed up. Parts of my hair are literally a half a foot or a bit more different in length. And I'm not talking layering, but like a bizarre shelf where my hair is two different lengths in back. This leads to intense snarling and getting the horrible tangles out pulls out more of my hair than I am pleased about. And it is super difficult to style. Ironically, this last visit Vidal Sassoon finally had an assistant for him who gave good shampoos again.

So, after a few weeks of trying to figure out the new cut, I called up Vidal Sassoon and told them I was unhappy. I wasn't sure if I just needed some tips on what product to style the current style with or if I wanted Thierry to fix it or someone in the Beverly Hills location, which is closer to me, or if I wanted my money back. Only I got this horrible woman named Adrianna was really snappish with me. She told me that there was no product on earth which would work to make my hair look right, in the same breath that she told me that Thierry certainly had not made any error, and I was probably just a poor communicator. I realize that Thierry's first language is French, but he did a beyond fabulous job for thirteen years and we never had any trouble communicating before. Not only that, but she was able to repeat to me, from Thierry, what I had asked for -- but not gotten -- during my visit. She kind of accused me of just having some sort of scam for a free haircut, even though (a) I have never ever had my hair cut at a three week interval in my life and (b) who the heck would go to the same place for thirteen years, tipping high all the while, as part of a plot to some day scam them for a free haircut at an interval they don't want their hair cut in? In a concret way, Adrianna told me I couldn't go to the Beverly Hills location, but I could come back into the Costa Mesa location and get my hair fixed by either Thierry or anyone else there I wanted. Only she was so unpleasant that I decided not to. Thierry is normally brilliant and I have no idea what happened in this one instance, other than that Vidal Sassoon could stand to work on their management training, and I can't trust that I will get a brilliant haircut next time.

Then my blowout stylist moved back to Korea.

So today I go to get a haircut at a new place, where I will hopefully be able to get blowouts as well. I am super nervous. Super super nervous. I really hope it works out. Soooooooo anxious.

(1) I celebrate NYE as a time for reflection.

(2) I swear the event below is going on across the street from me right now. Pretty sure it is past closing time now. Bonus points for drunk douches fighting on the sidewalk in front and being able to hear every thump of their abysmal dubstep in my living room. I think one of my New Year's resolutions is going to be to find out who to report this to. I can roll with the occasional disturbance, but this place is (a) causing a public nuisance multiple days every week and (b) attracting uncool people to my neighborhood. I live in Hollywood, so I'm sure we must have zoning rules about venues which appeal to uncool people.

Happy New Year's, everyone! May your 2012 be everything you hope for and dream of.

I had a really nice time during the holiday season this year. Had a great time with my family and learned to cook some new things. Never really used to cook, although I'm a champion eater, but I've been getting pretty good at it since the economy tanked. My curious brain requires constant stimuli and challenges and, oddly enough, cooking apparently bubbled to the top, in the absence of enough business stuff to keep the system whirring 24/7. I made gingerbread cookies for the first time since when I would have done it with my mom and been knee-high to her. My recipe was very different because I wanted really soft cookies. They turned out kind of ugly but delicious.

Partly, I did not want to make gingerbread men. Eating anthropomorphized food kind of troubles me. If you are going to be a cannibal, do it for real or don't, go big or go home. So, anyway, my gingerbread cookies were just kind of misshapen circles and wedges and not gingerbread men or whatever gingerbread boys are. I swear I saw a lot of recipes for gingerbread boys, when I was figuring out options, but I didn't look too closely at what the difference is between gingerbread boys and gingerbread men.

I also learned how to make snow peas beef. Being able to make giant portions of something I love so much, only being able to make them with all organic and high quality ingredients is kinda great.

And I learned how to make vegetarian sushi. I stuffed mine with gobo, carrots, avocado, and scallions. The white rice sushi rolls were way easier to get right than the brown rice ones. My brown rice sushi rolls looked drunk and pretty much had to be eaten with a spoon (or both hands, if messy.) But I'm pleasantly surprised and proud of how the white rice ones turned out.

Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only
http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html

The secret sale page is hidden on GS, but that membership gives you access to EVERYTHING from BlueBlood.com with more than 120,000 high end artistic photographs of 464+ beauties. From ethereal gothic beauties to punks who like to smash things to geeky fandom costume babes to fetish deities, Blue Blood features the most stunningly and uniquely beautiful. A battalion of coffee table book and nightclub photographers have contributed to BlueBlood.com and it shows. Not to mention erotic fiction from some of the top names in genre writing and just a dab of video.

Recent new additions to the site have included creative works featuring Razor Candi, Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas, Ruby Violence, Krysta Kaos, Sierras, Angel Beau, Scar, Darenzia, Eve, Voltaire and more! At Blue Blood Secret World Headquarters Global, there are some serious fans of bright sparkly things, decorations, plentiful food, and Santa hats. Plus everyone is feeling celebratory as Blue Blood enters its 20th year.

You can sign up for half price for the next week only -- as little as $4 a month -- and, as an extra bonus, when you sign up, you will be given the option to add a membership to Erotic BPM as well, for only a dollar.

Here's your BlueBlood Newsletter, 2011 Wrap-Up Edition:
- Happy New Year and a Fabulous Forthcoming 2012 http://twitter.com/BlueBlood
- APN Awards Nominations and Wins
- BlueBlood.net Re-Design
- Hustler Interviews Amelia G and Nicotine
- Gothic.net Panel of Experts
- Gothic.net Re-Design Red Carpet Event
- Marquis #51
- All Access Pass Call for Submissions
- Picture and Premium magazines
- Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only As Little as $4 a Month http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html
More details on this super fab deal at the end of this newsletter.
- Contact Reminder: West Hollywood Snail, Model/Photog Submit

Happy New Year and a Fabulous Forthcoming 2012
http://twitter.com/BlueBlood
http://www.blueblood.com/news/
Blue Blood has so much going on that it is a good idea to follow the Blue Blood Twitter for up-to-the-minute info. In 2012, Blue Blood has a bunch of cool party sponsorships coming up, some very exciting print projects, and the launch of Blue Blood Fleshlights kicking off with the lovely lady parts of Nicotine and Misti Dawn. As we both gear up for the future and reflect on this past year, here are some of the highlights of 2011:

BlueBlood.net Re-Design
http://www.blueblood.net/
You have probably noticed that BlueBlood.net got a spiffy new look in 2011. There are lots of new articles and new conversations. Music videos, cool style, and pop culture deconstructions. Come say hello and participate in intelligent counterculture debate and hotness :-)

2011 APN Awards Nominations and Wins
Blue Blood received a flattering number of nominations and took home half a dozen wins from the APN Awards, including Best Gothic Update for Razor Candi/GothicSluts, Best Nerd Update for Nicotine/EroticFandom, Best Site Re-Design for Forrest Black/GothicSluts, and Best Alternative Photography for Amelia G and Forrest Black. The sites received a number of other nominations for various awards over the course of the year, but it felt extra-good to be recognized in such important wins from awards run by people who really get it. The Blue Blood crew is looking forward to the 2012 awards.

Hustler Interviews Amelia G and Nicotine
http://www.blueblood.com/news/2011/12/what-is-steampunk/
Hustler magazine ran an interview with Amelia G and Nicotine in a feature on steampunk. "What the Heck is Steampunk?" was also illustrated with photography by Amelia G and Forrest Black. This is in the February issue, on newsstands now.

Gothic.net Panel of Experts
http://www.gothic.net/tag/panel-of-experts/
Gothic.net began running a series of features with a Panel of Experts interviewed on various horror and gothic-related topics. Blue Blood notables on the Panel include Amelia G, John Shirley, Will Judy, Forrest Black, Cecilia Tan, Thomas S. Roche, Ed Mironiuk, Eric Swartz, and Chad Savage.

Gothic.net Re-Design Red Carpet Event
http://www.gothic.net/gothic-net-party-red-carpet-pic/
Blue Blood sponsored the red carpet event for Gothic.net's celebration of its dark new design. Blue Blood notables in attendance included Amelia G, Forrest Black, Carlos Batts, April Flores, Diana Knight, and Daniel Ian Essex of the Astrovamps.

Marquis #51
http://www.blueblood.com/news/2011/06/marquis-51-alecia-joy-contortionist/
Marquis #51 hit German newsstands. For this issue, Amelia G and Forrest Black did their Big in America column on the exceedingly flexible Alecia Joy. This makes more than thirty issues in a row of Marquis, the highest circulation glossy fetish magazine in the world, which have featured work by Blue Blood's Amelia G and Forrest Black.

All Access Pass Call for Submissions
http://amzn.to/ameliagbackstagepasses
http://bluebloodbooks.com/writers-guidelines.html
http://www.blueblood.net/2010/10/backstage-passes-good-press/
Editrix Amelia G is looking for a pansexual orientation and (ironically perhaps) is still reading for a few more hetero boy/girl stories for this sequel to the critically-acclaimed Backstage Passes.

Picture and Premium magazines
Picture and Premium magazines have been running an extensive series of spreads highlighting BlueBlood.com in their glossy international pages. The Blue Blood crew has not seen the magazines yet, but have been told the layouts look very nice.

Blue Blood Megasite 50% Off This Week Only
http://www.gothicsluts.com/affc/xmas2011.html

The secret sale page is hidden on GS, but that membership gives you access to EVERYTHING from http://www.blueblood.com/ with more than 120,000 high end artistic photographs of 464+ beauties. From ethereal gothic beauties to punks who like to smash things to geeky fandom costume babes to fetish deities, Blue Blood features the most stunningly and uniquely beautiful. A battalion of coffee table book and nightclub photographers have contributed to BlueBlood.com and it shows. Not to mention erotic fiction from some of the top names in genre writing and just a dab of video.

Recent new additions to the site have included creative works featuring Razor Candi, Misti Dawn and Michael Vegas, Ruby Violence, Krysta Kaos, Sierras, Angel Beau, Scar, Darenzia, Eve, Voltaire and more! At Blue Blood Secret World Headquarters Global, there are some serious fans of bright sparkly things, decorations, plentiful food, and Santa hats. Plus everyone is feeling celebratory as Blue Blood enters its 20th year.

You can sign up for half price for the next week only -- as little as $4 a month -- and, as an extra bonus, when you sign up, you will be given the option to add a membership to Erotic BPM as well, for only a dollar.

Contact Info Revisited:
You probably all know this by now, but, if you still have any of the JPS.net e-mails in your address book, delete them as they have been discontinued. Do not attempt to get in touch using Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, or Beverly Hills contact info. All swag, contracts, review materials, requests for interviews, invitations to conventions, contest giveaways, photo submissions, pitches, free clothes, offers to fly the Blue Blood crew to your city, vials of your blood, etc. should be sent to:

Blue Blood
8033 Sunset Blvd #4500
West Hollywood, CA 90046
USA

Press releases about your own projects can be snail-mailed or sent to submit@blueblood.net

Models and photographers can submit via http://www.bluebloodphoto.com and writers via http://bluebloodbooks.com

Thanks!

--AMELIA G & FORREST BLACK
Amelia@BlueBlood.net & Forrest@BlueBlood.net

http://www.BlueBlood.net/