For some reason I have been reading the collected ghost stories of M.R. James.
Yes, I know that it is the Christmas season. I haven't forgotten or overlooked that. In fact, I feel more excited about the holidays than I normally am. I haven't been neglecting the spirit of Christmas and I have been carrying out all of my traditions and even founding some new ones. The excitement and majesty of the season fills my soul. I am, however and paradoxically, also feeling a fascination for the supernatural and scary.
M.R. James wrote ghost stories and he did so long before the advent of Hollywood style terror. Many of his stories are centered around the strange powers held in ancient texts and architecture. They are short, unsettling and inconclusive. He exposes his readers to a short series of bizarre events and then never really explains why they occurred. He gives enough hints to make the reader imagine a more complex and frightening back story than he could possibly create himself. I especially enjoyed "Cannon Alberic's Scrap-book" and "The Mezzotint".
Along those same lines -
"Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. I have always loved this song. It is atmospheric, eerie and danceable. It makes me feel like I am walking through a misty forest in the half-light. I recently watched the video for the first time and was terrified and intrigued by the black dancing balloon-animal people. They are really cool and weird. Also, I think that Natasha Khan is really pretty.
As an interesting side note; I guess that Daniel is the kid from Karate Kid. And.....wait for it..... you can change the color of the playback bar of youtube videos. Yes! I chose red.
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