Goosebumps - Teacher's Pet Comparison

 After interviewing a Goosebumps legend, I wanted to recap on my Goosebumps knowledge. Asia Vieira was in a Goosebumps episode called Teacher's Pet. She was a side character named Sue. 

Sue didn't have much of a part in the episode; she was just here and there. It made the story more interesting as the only people really involved were the characters Benjy, Becca, and Mr. Blankenship.

What made Asia's part so interesting in the episode was just that it gave more notice of other characters being involved. It was never noted that Asia's character was NAMED sue, but with so many entrances in the episode, it was important enough to do so.

What I want to talk about here is how the episode and story were different EVEN THOUGH they are the same title, of the same series, of the same writer. With Teacher's Pet being a story first, let's talk about it!

The story was written in October 1999 in the book Tales to Give You Goosebumps. The story was about a girl, Becca, and her friend Benjy making their way to school on the first day of 6th grade. When walking into the classroom they notice that the teacher they wanted, Ms. Wegner, has been replaced with Mr. Blankenship, who we learn has a fascination with snakes.

The students spend all their time at school using every subject about snakes. Things get out of control one day as Becca causes a white mouse to escape its cage. 

In this story, Becca seems to be annoyed as she is punished for this mistake. Being in a classroom FULL of cages with snakes, this teacher gets angry that snake food has been "wasted". This causes Becca to take matters into her own hands and sneak into class and release the mice from the clutches of Mr. Blankenship's collection.

After sneaking in, their plan goes wrong as they bump into the cages and causes snakes to get loose. They freak out as a snake that wasn't it class is also released. This snake... IS THE TEACHER!!!

Both Benjy and Becca manage to escape, but have to pay a price for their actions. They must feed their snake teacher a mouse every day and keep the secret of him being a snake while they avoid any trouble sneaking into the school..

Now let's compare this story to the tv episode.

In the show, Becca and Benjy and on a field trip, not going to school.

Mr. Blankenship is some kind of scientist, not a teacher.

In the book, Mr. Blankenship morphs into a snake; in the show he's a mutant.

Snakes are involved in both stories but they seemed more involved in the book.

The only characters in both the book and show are Becca, Benji, and Mr. Blankenship.

Although, Becca had a nightmare of being approached by a snake in both stories.

Mr. Blankenship turns into 2 creatures in the show: a snake and a fly.

Now, if you haven't read the book or the episode, tell me which you think is better?

If you've only seen one, would you like the other? As for now, I like them both for different reasons. The book gives a bit of suspense and ends with a chuckle. Meanwhile, the episode left the audience in awe, as most scary stories do. It gives a cliffhanger scene.

Meet with the Stars- Asia Vieira - Stern

Asia Vieira might not have known that her career in acting was going to put her in a memorable place as of now. Although she has made appearances in movies and TV series, people are sure to love the fact that she was in not one, but TWO lovable series that are still a hit in today's society.

In October 1994, R.L. Stine published a new book series called Tales to Give You Goosebumps. It included about 10 separate short stories, one of them being Teacher's Pet. Nearly 4 years later, this story had become an episode in the 1995 TV series, Goosebumps. 

This story is about two kids, Becca and Benjy, going on a field trip into the woods and running into a scientist-type figure, Mr. Blanenship. This strange man has been working on hybreeds and has turned himself into a man-snake. In this story, there are a couple of girls you'll find repeatedly appearing within the episode. Although not really given names in the episode, one of these girls was known as Sue. 

This episode was aired 2 days before Asia's birthday! We got a chance to chat with Asia and ask her a few questions:

1. How old were you when you starred in the Goosebumps episode?

"I was 14 when I did the show."

2. What can you tell us about the episode and the character you played?

"My character was named Sue in the episode Teacher's Pet. It was about sinister creatures devouring the campers."

3. What other appearances have you made on TV?

"I was in Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, Magic School Bus (caller), Omen IV, Are You Afraid of the Dark, and Flash Forward. They were my biggest shows and movies when I was young. I did a couple of made-for-TV movies and straight-to-DVD movies too before I decided to retire in 2015."

4. Do your kid(s) like Goosebumps? How do they react knowing their mother is featured in an episode?

"I have let them watch my episode since I believe they are still too young to see the show. They've enjoyed my episode."

5. What are you up to nowadays?

"I don't really act anymore. I have changed my career to serving at hotels and restaurants, and now I am a wife and a mother of 2."

6. Do you have any other favorite series?

"Are You Afraid of the Dark was a favorite of mine; I was happy to be in it. I watched the hit show Ready or Not when I was young too. I ended up being friends with Laura Bertram even though we were on different shows. She is so nice."

7. What advice do you have for those inspired by Goosebumps to write and film?

"I believe people should like to act in horror movies and shows at a young age and enjoy it while they can."

8. Out of the 62 books R.L. Stine has written, is there one you wish was a part of the TV series?

"I think the book called The Haunted School would have been a good episode to watch."

9. What TV shows were you into as a kid?

I used to watch a lot of shows like Scooby-Doo, Dennis the Menace, and I enjoyed watching Ready or Not, and didn't really watch much TV or movies when I was young. I was busy with school, acting, and family."

10. What are you hobbies/ interests?

"I enjoy reading and traveling to new places."

After hearing that Asia was on Are You Afraid of the Dark, I decided to look into this. Nearly a year after starring in Goosebumps, Asia was a main character in Are You Afraid of the Dark, the revival series. This episode was called "Tale of the Secret Admirer".

This episode was about Asia Vieira (Meggie Evans) getting a note from a mysterious boy. When she confronts the guy she assumes is the note-writer, she comes to realize she made a mistake. She then learns that this was all a huge mistake and learns the REAL reason behind the message.

I would like to give thanks to Asia Vieira- Stern for this interview. and hope she enjoys the Shiver and Fears book given to her this afternoon.

Be sure to check out my next blog as we discuss the storytelling differences between the book and the TV episode of Teacher's Pet. 

Thank you!

Shiver and Fears Shutdown

 As of now, the Shiver and Fears website is being remodeled again. I must say this is a stressing progress. This process took place on October 2, and here we are, 4 days later, and we are still waiting for the results. 

We are working to get some changes done for Shiver and Fears as it is making a transfer now. This might mean that some things will be missing and replaced. For example, the art gallery. 

The Shiver and Fears art gallery was a place for artists to share their fan art and creepy creations to everyone. We searched for artists for months, creating this for fans to feel noticed and appreciated. As of now, files have been moved and deleted over time. Some might be able to save, but in the meantime, we might just end up starting for the beginning.

Another thing that might change is the game section of the website. This was a tough challenge because we lost some games in the process. We've learned over time that after creating a game/ puzzle to play it get deleted by the site that helped create it, you know, unless it's from Scratch or saved. But we will be remaking most of these games, especially our hangman game, which was a game we founded and recoded to our image.

Shiver and Fears was JUST starting to introduce the Magical Times series, giving it its own page on the Shiver and Fears website. Since it was just a start, we might rethink this and try something else instead. Although it may return, we're not quite sure how just yet.

Lastly, our "teammates" might have to be shut down. We were teaming with a few people. Retailers, who at the time were helping Shiver and Fears spread at the time, but at some point the teamwork fell forward. Meaning, either the retailers shut down, or they were let go after a point in time. To this day, we are still looking for partners.

We're not quite sure when the site will return, but we've been told soon. If it's not here by Saturday, we're speaking to some people to get this settled. Setting things up is hard; whether it be a website, printer, computer, or WIFI there's always a struggle somewhere. Until then, get your news from Shiver and Fears by checking out our blog and medias.

Social Media plans

 So we've started ANOTHER content on social media... Yes, there is always a new idea somewhere in the mix, this one reflects on how people are doing podcasts.

Now I get a bit confused in this, because it's a video of people discussing a show or a common interest, but it's supposed to be like a radio show. I never really looked into it, because why listen to the full recording when the video is right there. I never really put thought into listening to one. The ones with Disney stars and favorite sitcoms is very interesting at times, though.

For me though, I kind of make it a joke. There isn't really a podcast to listen to, but there is video content of what seems like the middle of one. So far, right now, we have 3. They are doing as well as any video on Instagram.

Check out what we call Ghost Interviews. These videos are mostly found on Instagram. Some have been placed on other social media, but it seems to only grow in this one spot. Weird.

Meanwhile, here's some new news we have for the Shiver and Fears monster drawing contest. Entries are now requested to be mailed! This year we have a smaller number of monster friends, only because we've been having a hard time collecting monsters. 

It used to be easy, but now that we have contestants coming from multiple places, it's time we start a system. It's too late to start this system now, but next year we'll be ready. As of now, we have a total of 10 contestants, so this years winner will come a bit quicker than last year's. In fact, I think last year we had so many entries we had to extend to October. 

Now, the question is where is the voting hosted? Last year we moved the voting system to another media due to TikTok losing an audience. This year we're giving it a second try. In fact, we ever decided to test our audience with a test poll. See it here

But there is one issue. Those who watch these videos on a divice other than a phone might not even know there's a poll there... and we've recently learned that the reason why things are quiet is that Shiver and Fears is being watched by non-subscribers. What does that mean? In order to vote, you have to have an account...

So how are people going to vote? Well we have a plan B JUST  for this situation. But if YOU want to cast a vote and don't have an account for TikTok, we'll have a place for you on YouTube. Just visit our channel every Saturday. In fact, go visit it right now. Every Saturday, a poll will be ready for you!

Monster entries

 So the Boo's Beastly Buddy Contest has started about a week from now. Everyone is turning in their monsters and so far we got some good results. Some monsters are creative, some monsters are bold, other monsters... are pretty similar. But they are all originals.

So this year we will be voting on Tik Tok this year, we'll see how that goes, last year was pretty slow, so it had to be transfered. In fact, I had to "hire" some people to be judges, just to get the polls running. It was weird, we've never had a struggle in votes, and for some odd reason, votes were just not coming in as fast.

Let's see how we do this year.

 Another thing being worked on is the Shiver and Fears logo for halloween. You know how Google has a special look for special occasions; well, I want a few myself. This is actually the orininal look, but the problem is, with the profile picture needing to be round, the jack-o lantern is kind of in the way a bit.

I must say though, I always looked the colors orange and black for halloween, but purple and green does make it a bit more errie... Who knew?

But maybe you like our new logo setup. Want to see it? It's posted on the YouTube channel now. Yeah, I must say it IS a bit early to be placing Halloween stuff everywhere, BUT it IS the next holiday to prepare for.

Now for those of you who are NOT entering the Beastly Buddy Contest. I ask that you try the Share Your Scare contest instead. No, there isn't a prize, but your video/ picture will be posted by Shiver and Fears SM, and you get the credit for it.

What is Share Your Scare? Just send a picture to Shiver and Fears of something Halloween related. A cooking recipe, a jump scare, a costume, or a decoration you made. The only rule is that it can't be fake, and you have to do it yourself.

Every now and then, people are sharing a product or a recipe or a DIY decoration, and I always wonder: are people really looking into trying this stuff? I don't want to just see it shared for everyone to see; I want to see someone try it themselves. That's where you come in.

Now this use to be a prize give away type contest, BUT no one ever enters. So there is just no need to hand away prizes for a contest no one cares about.

But MAYBE if you give it a shot, I might reconsider!

Customized Cards

 So for the past few weeks, I have been working on some projects. Well, I call them project, but it was almost like being in a lab. 

I've been testing somethings, ever since I made Shiver and Fears stickers, it's about time to place that on pause because the Shiver and Fears Monster drawing Contest is coming and it's about time to say goodbye to Promethus and Bubonic.

We have new friends coming in soon.

That's besides the point. The point is, what else can this Cricut machine do? And how can Shiver and Fears benifit from it? Well, one project I was working on was a shirt for a friend on his birthday, but shirts take a lot of time. Buying the size and color goes for the vinyl as well.

Well, to my surprise, I found myself making cards. It'll come in handy, because usually I buy them from Walgreens. I buy a pack for myself and a pack for the contest winner. This year, I might not need to spend so much money.

But then I started thinking, what other kind of cards could I make? Heart-shaped, star-shaped, photo-framed. WHOA! The ideas started to flow. Then it hit me: what if I were to make these cards for people? You know for them to give to others? Listen, store-bought cards are good and all, but what about a card you made yourself? Or at least one that I made? It could have shimmering, foil words. It could include cut out images. It doesn't even have to be a normal-shaped card.

So, that's what I think I'll do. I'll make an order form with suggestions just like they do with cake orders....

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Ok, I need to slow down. This could be just like the cups, and the pencils, and even the books. For now I'll just give it a thought. But hey:

What do you think?

Cricut Mania for Shiver and Fears

 I guess using Cricut machines are a popular thing. Along with 3D printers. Now, I do hope my creativity doesn't jump into THAT anytime soon.

I actually didn't think I'd be into a Cricut machine, but making stickers was a hard project to pass. But an idea came to mind that I couldn't pass: a cartoon character cutout! I've done a few before. But I had to draw the character piece by piece and glue them together. Fun, but difficult.

Now that I have a machine, it be fun to try making a character. So, I made one. You can see this creation on my TikTok channel. As for you, if you want to make this image... Blossom Cut Out Project I guess you can click here and make it with YOUR Cricut machine. Meanwhile

 this is what it looks like. I wanted to make the eyes glitter and the bow metallic, but I didn't have those materials yet. So for now, I'll just stick with the simple, basic look.

Now, besides cards (Which might be best to get a Cricut Card mat) and bookmarks, I just wonder what other projects I could start on?

Which reminds me of a goof I made earlier this year. So I used AI to create a birthday card image. For nearly a year, I've passed out this card to many people. 

This morning I needed to make another card, so with a machine, I decided to make it unique. When I printed the image out, how shocked was I that AI has the words HAPPY BRRTHDAY hanging on a banner!

Now if I had caught this months ago, I'd have fixed it, but this card has been passed around in video, ecards, and print out... in other word, it's too late to fix. And with the Beastly Buddy Contest coming up, there's really no point. Because by November the card will be nothing but a memory...

But next time I make this card. I'll make a blueprint first... It seems to work better that way!