World of Noir -- The Occult

The Occult is a favourite trope in the Noir genre. Plots will often feature mystical objects, superstitions, grifters pulling cons like card/shell games, mind reading, hypnosis or seances, and fortune tellers reading palms, crystal balls, or tarot. Nightmare Alley, both the original movie and the recent remake, is a good example of this -- its plot includes mind reading, hypnosis, communicating with the dead AND tarot!

Which brings me to my most recent tarot deck purchase . . . .

This delightful deck mimics the art-and-design style of classic pulp fiction covers once common in action/adventure, horror, romance and crime/detective novels. It's a fun deck to use or even just to look through. (Martha of Mystical Empowerment blog has posted video reviews of this deck if you want to see all the cards -- click here for a full length review or here for a quick flip through).

Nine of The Pulp Tarot cards in particular scream NOIR to me. Here they are in all their shadowy, decadent, demi-monde glory --

Incidentally, I highly recommend both versions of Nightmare Alley, if you haven't seen them. The 1947 original is shown from time to time on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel. Guillermo del Toro's 2021 remake is currently streaming on Disney+ in Canada or Hulu in the States. Nightmare Alley is heavy on its use of the occult trope because it is a classic of the sub-genre known as "carny noir" -- films/novels set in shabby/shady carnivals, circuses, amusement parks or other such seamy entertainment venues.

World of Noir -- In the Shadow

My recent foray into detective literature (The Big Sleazy) showcased how much I adore the Noir genre, whether written or filmed.

One of Noir's most classic visual tropes is, of course, shadows, whether cast by objects or by people. If you love that Noir aesthetic too, I hope you'll take 7 minutes of your time and watch this wonderful little film called In the Shadow. Using classic footage from more than sixty Noir or horror movies (listed in the credits at the end), it tells the story of an individual "Shadow" and his evil human "Wearer," whom the Shadow decides one day to kill in order to be free. It is in French with English subtitles.

Thanks to Miss Cellania on whose blog I found this gem!

Interestingly, a film clip appears at the 2:12 mark which is the ultimate source for an art piece I did for a previous film noir post -- 

At the time I did this illustration, I based it on another artist's work found on the internet and didn't realize its film origins!

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2021]

Fancy-Shmancy Eats

Dog Lovers, This One's For You

A formal complaint of

"excessive feline focus"

has recently been lodged

against She Who Seeks blog.

And the verdict is . . . .

So to fulfill my Community Service sentence,

here is a whole post extolling the praises of

D   O   G   S   ! ! ! ! ! ! !

And forgive me, but I'm about

to commit another crime!

The Struggle Continues

As mentioned before on this blog,

painting in watercolours

is my Achilles' Heel.

I use too much paint, too much water,

and then try to salvage things

by adding permanent ink overlay.

Behold what happens when

left to my own devices --

All I can say is --

My watercolours instructor, Terrie Shaw,

is trying to show me better techniques.

In other words, to use more restraint.

You can see the improved results

I'm getting under her patient tutelage --

Still got a loooooooong 

way to go, though.

Here I am in class

with that last watercolour --

And, further to my previous post

mocking New Age-y stuff,

YES

that's a Mystical Wolf With Crystals t-shirt.

Wanna make something of it?

Huh? HUH?

[Paintings and photos of paintings

© Debra She Who Seeks, 2022-23]

New Age LOLs

I don't just make fun of my buddy Jesus

and his wackier, more obnoxious 

Christian followers, you know.

I'm an Equal Opportunity Mocker,

as this post proves!