I Make Things: Cupcake Edition

This is kind of late, but I did not realize until today that I neglected to share a picture of the Heaven's Gate-inspired (cult, NOT movie) cupcakes that I made some time ago after finishing my undergrad thesis on the group and its representation in the U.S. media. Blogger (like Twitter) is being disagreeable today and won't let me insert a cut (?!). So, since these basically look like dead bodies made out of cupcake material--and after reading some very sensible criticism from other blog-friends--I've spaced the image further down the page. If you are at all sensitive to images of dead bodies recreated in sugar, please feel free to skip this post.
















They were delicious. The book Hello, Cupcake! was particularly useful when it came to cooking and crafting techniques.

Today in Useless Blog Posts Written by AnnaHam

Does anyone else think that this picture of Pat Robertson is rather, well, Applewhite-esque?



IM IN UR FORMUR AWLTURNATIV RELIGINS LOOKIN LIKE UR DED LEADURZ

This post has been brought to you by Shakes, and also the fact that I'm about to work on my thesis, which is ALL ABOUT HEAVEN'S GATE.

Y'all find this so interesting, I know. The good news is that Robertson is retiring! The bad news is that this post was more than a bit pointless.

Beyond Human: The Final Call

Remember this guy and his Away Team? I certainly do!



I like how he says, "Rather than give you any history," (around the two-minute mark) and then immediately follows it up with, "Well, I'm going to back up and give you some history." Also: Referring to yourself in 3rd person is a surefire way to make yourself look really, really strange. And don't get a haircut like that, for goodness sake!

I'm doing a research project on Heaven's Gate for my Feminist Inquiry class (I know, an odd match, right?), and a good friend of mine found this little gem for me. (Hat tip to Sabine for finding this for me when my unskilled self couldn't!)

Here are some fascinating tidbits on the cult that were not exactly covered by the mainstream media:

* The leaders' names for themselves (Marshall Applewhite was "Do" and Bonnie Lu Nettles was "Ti") were chosen from the musical scale, as Applewhite was a former music professor at a university in Texas.

*Applewhite was once a moderately sucessful opera singer (!)

*The cult ran a computer consulting and website design business in Southern California for a number of years, and were remembered by various clients as being very polite, obedient and helpful.

Fascinating, huh? Okay, not the fact that they all killed themselves, but some of the other stuff. I find this sort of thing so interesting!