Miss Mina Murray

Dear Constant Reader,

You may recall my review of The NecroNomNomNom and my subsequent obsession with its rituals. If you follow me over on YouTube, you might have seen the concoctions I mixed up from LoveCraft Cocktails the past two Halloweens (here and here).

The good folks at Red Duke Games are at it again! Just the other day I received a copy of The NecroMunchicon: Unspeakable Snacks and Terrifying Treats from the Lore of H. P. Lovecraft by Mike Slater (2023).

As with the previous two volumes all the…

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Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday again! Here’s your tip.

If you can’t get into your costume by yourself, arrange for some assistance in advance.

Sometimes are costumes are complicated or fasten in the back or cover our hands or otherwise make it impossible to get into without help. (I’m thinking of these…). You might need a couple of helping hands.

Set that help up before the show. It’s not fair to spring that request on a fellow performer who might be in the middle of getting ready themselves. And you…

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Dear Constant Reader,

I’m sure you know by now that I’m rather fond of food history and cooking historical recipes (and making videos of recipe tests). One of the places I like to read about culinary oddities is Gastro Obscura, a section of Atlas Obscura.

Recently I saw that Gastro Oscura had an article on marlow, an early 20th century frozen dessert made from marshmallows. And I thought “Hey, I’ve made that! I should contact them and let them know.” And as I was reading I saw…

The hard-to-read screenshot…

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Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday! But before your tip, a little NPR-style appeal. I’m terrible at actively promoting myself, but let’s give it a try…

I’m glad you’re here for my public writings and videos! If you enjoy that content, would you consider joining my Patreon? The lowest tier is just one dollar. What can you get for a dollar these days? Some ramen? You can’t even get a cup of decent coffee for a buck.

As a Patron, not only do you get my blog posts emailed directly to you, but also costume…

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Dear Constant Reader,

I know I missed your Friday Tip this week (and B.A.B.E. students didn’t get their weekly newsletter). I was felled by a head cold this past week and wasn’t good for much more than sipping tea and reading trashy novels. Here’s your belated tip:

Trouble twirling? Your tassels might be too light.

A small, light tassel is going to be harder to twirl than one with a little heft to it. Replace it with one with a longer body or a bit of weight in the head (a plastic or wooden bead works…

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Dear Constant Reader,

This Friday we had a show at a brand-new to us venue, Electric Haze in Worcester. Since Ava moved out that way, Scratch has been looking for places to have shows closer to her. He was trying to book our Halloween show, Carnal Carnival there, but they offered us this night instead. Scratch had his doubts, as the date was a mere 2 weeks off, but the promotor was sure we’d have a good crowd because of Worcester Pride.

Electric Haze is a hookah bar and live entertainment venue and they had…

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Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Although the weather is rather beautiful right now, here at The Manor we are awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Lee, which will hopefully lessen in intensity before arrival.

Your tip is my answer to the frequent question, “what should I do with my hands?”

When in doubt, arms out.

A lot of the time we’re using our hand to remove garments or manipulate props. But when you’re not, a good option is to hold your arms away from your body, in a way that suits your character or…

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Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday! I’m heading off shortly for our back to school show at Electric Haze as part of Worcester Pride. Here’s your tip! I can’t believe I’ve never given it to you before

Make sure your pastie adhesive is meant for skin.

There are a lot of options to affix your pasties to yourself, some better for you than others. Some good ones are toupee, wig, and fashion/swimsuit tape. If you prefer a liquid adhesive, anything you can get at a theatrical supply house will work — liquid latex…

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Dear Constant Reader,

I don’t want to write this, but I also need to.

One of the things that made the pandemic bearable was The Boys, Tux and Tom, the bonded feral cats who made our yard home. It brought me a lot of joy to see them. Especially when they snuggled together to nap and happily rolled around in the grass. When Tom was killed by a coyote that joy went away and so did Tux. We were pretty sure we weren’t going to see Tux in our yard again.

Tux did come back and eventually he made a new friend, Lord…

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Hi friends, Scratch here, filling in for Miss Mina with today’s Friday tip. Asking for help is hard, but necessary    None of us — not you, me, or even Miss M. —  can do it all by themselves, all the time.  But for whatever reason, a lot of us (yep, me too) have a lot of trouble asking for help.  Either we want something done exactly the way we want it done or we’re afraid of being a burden…or we’re just afraid of being rejected.   All of those things are bad, it’s true, but collapsing under the weight of… Read more