Stirring Spirits

The Volcano House in Hawai’i is perhaps the only hotel in the world on the edge of an active, erupting volcano.

When I first came up with the name “Stirring Spirits,” my vision for it was a mixture of horror movies and horror-themed drinks. I started off with kind of a tiki theme because, well, it was summer and that was what I was in the mood to do. Tropical drinks and all that cool stuff. :-p

Yum... alcohol...

Photo Credit

It just seemed like a fun way to start things off, but I never really intended for it to keep that particular theme...

However, the more I got into it, the more it just felt right.

I think I’ve kinda given up on the idea of making it a web series... at least for the time being. One of my reasons for wanting to do this is because I want to take the focus off myself. I am alone in this venture, right now, though. Perhaps if I can get others involved in the future, something like a web series might be a more realistic goal (one where I don’t have to be doing absolutely everything), but right now, it’s probably best to just start this off as a plain old blog and see where things develop from there.

I’ve now decided the focus of this blog will be one of tropical dreams... but unlike the usual vision of bright sunny days, I wanna turn to the dreams that take place in the dark of night.

Imagine falling asleep to this view... not a psycho killer in sight... Photo Credit

If there’s one thing I love more than anything it’s the contrast between dark and light. The Nightmare Before Christmas was an early influence on me because I loved that idea of mixing two things, that seemed to be polar opposites, to create something new and magical.  Like the great Bob Ross once said, “Put light against light – you have nothing. Put dark against dark – you have nothing. It's the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.”

So, in the spirit of stirring up the dark and the light, I’ve decided to keep the name Stirring Spirits. I'm not sure exacty what I'll be featuring here yet, but I'm thinking spooky, but tropical. So skeletons and demons, but with flowers and drinks and warm nights on the beach!

Not to mention food. Sorry, but if Crab Rangoon is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. Photo Credit

Now, I use the term “tiki’ very loosely... as most Americans, do. :-p The fact is, though, tiki as we know it, walks a very fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation.

What, you’re gonna try to tell me the real Tiki gods didn’t wear sunglasses? They just went around without any eye protection... sure... Photo Credit

It’s something I’ve been putting a lot of thought into lately because if I’m gonna do something like this, I want to do it, right. I mean, I'm a white girl from Baltimore. :-p And, one side of me is drawn to all things kitsch. It’s just kind of a Baltimore thing. :-p And, one of the reasons I personally like it is that, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s just all about having fun...

If you don’t know the connection between Baltimore and pink flamingos, well... it’s probably best not to get into it... Photo Credit

However I do want to balance that with an understanding of the world around me and where a lot of these things originate. Twentieth-Century Americana is sort of its own iconic style... but it also borrowed heavily from other cultures. And the past is hardly squeaky clean. There’s a lot of darkness behind some things that seem to have only good intentions. So, it presents a unique challenge.  I’m not sure if adding the extra layer of “darkness” to it all makes it better or worse. :) Honestly, it probably is kind of a dangerous area to tread, but... then all good adventures have an element of danger. :) And, I’ve decided to treat this as simply an exploration.

A respectful exploration, though. I can’t say exactly what that will look like... I’ll just be taking this as I go. I just promise to try my best.