Mystery Castle - Phoenix, AZ

On Saturday afternoon, Anna and I decided to take a break from horror movies for a couple hours and taking in some local roadside attractions. So we went to the Mystery Castle in Phoenix.

The Mystery Castle is a sad but beautiful story. Boyce Luther Gulley lived on the West Coast and always promised his little girl he would one day build her castle to live in. But when Gulley was diagnosed with tuberculosis and believed he only had a few months to live, he left his family without a word. His wife and daughter would never hear from him again until after his death. Gulley went to Arizona to spend his last few months building his daughter a dream castle. But he didn't live for a few months, he lived for years and built his daughter's dream 18-room castle of stone, adobe, automobile parts and petroglyphs held together by cement. This three-story castle, completed in 1945, is made of stone, adobe, automobile parts and petroglyphs and is held together by a cement mixture including goat's milk.

From his death bed, Gulley wrote to his daughter Mary Lou and told her about the castle. The teenage Mary Lou and her mother moved to her castle in the desert where Mary Lou still lives to this day. The castle gets its name from the "mystery" of the trap door. Gulley told his daughter not to open the trap door until 1948, three years after the house was completed. On New Year's Eve of 1948, Mary Lou and her mother opened the trap door to find a hidden room where her father had hidden gifts for her including the title to the house and gold nuggets.

The castle has 18 rooms, 13 fireplaces, a kitchen, a bar, and even a wedding chapel where wedding ceremonies used to be held! (Fun Fact: There are a collection of shoes left behind by brides in the wedding chapel for good luck). From the castle, you can see the whole cityscape of Phoenix and some beautiful landscape. It is truly a beautiful place with a beautiful story. If you are in Phoenix, be sure to pay a visit to Mary Lou Gulley's Mystery Castle.

La Fonda Del Sol - Scottsdale, AZ

If I got to choose my last meal, it would be the beef tamale with rice and beans from La Fonda Del Sol in Scottsdale, Arizona. One afternoon, Anna and I decided to look for a real Mexican restaurant to enjoy an authentic lunch. We hit the jackpot with La Fonda Del Sol.

The chunky mild salsa (with tomatoes, fresh cilantro, onion, and a little bit of lime juice) was delicious with fresh tortilla chips. We went through two orders of the salsa pretty quickly. I then had the beef tamale with red sauce and rice and beans. This tamale has eclipsed all other tamales for me. It was light and fluffy, fresh out out of the corn husk. The shredded beef was so tender it just melted in your mouth. And the red sauce had just the right amount of spice to give it a kick without burning your mouth. Anna's chicken enchilada was equally amazing so we sat silently, eating in awe of just how amazing the food was. I swear, when the waiter asked if everything was okay, we were both about to drop to our knees and praise him for bringing us these bits of heaven.

We finished up the meal with some deep friend ice cream (vanilla icing in a fried corn flake crust). It was good, but not as heart stopping amazing as the main course. Next time (and there will be a next time) I will get the sopapillas or the churro.

If you are in the Phoenix area and you like Mexican food, be sure to stop by the La Fonda Del Sol to enjoy the most amazing food you've ever had!

International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival 2010 - Tempe, AZ

It was gall break and definitely needed some time away from law school. And what better way then two days of horror movies? So I called up my best friend and traveling companion, Anna, and we booked our flights. We spent two days at the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival watching some great films and even got to meet the director of one of the films (The picture below is us with Matt Rogers, the director of Snuff). Below are the films we saw:

Horror Shorts A: This collection of short horror films included "Rise of the Appliance" (great for watching someone be attacked by grill), "Nice Guys Finish Dead" (what happens when a slasher falls in love with one of the campers), "MutantLand" (amazing animation and very creepy), "Abra Cadaver" (a failed magician tries to use women to complete his tricks, until one teaches him a lesson), "Zombie Monologues" (a new zombie critiques the zombie apocolypse to a journalist and his cameraman), "Recollection" (a man wakes up in the middle of a serial killer's spree, but doesn't know who he is), and "The Furred Man" (a man explains to police why he is wearing a furry costume and covered in blood).

El Monstro Del Mar: This was by far my favorite film of the entire festival! It is the absolute best in exploitation monster movies. Three gorgeous but deadly hired killers, Beretta, Blondie and Snowball, hole up in a small beach-side community to keep a low profile. But this town has a dark secret. The local old sea baron, Joseph, tries desperately to warn them to never go into the water. But these crazy vixens listen to no one, especially no crazy ass old fool. So the Kraken awakes! Now, along with Joseph and his beautiful grand daughter, Hannah, they must fight for their lives against this furious creature of the deep as the sea rises in a tidal wave of blood.

Snuff: A young director sets out with his friend and ex-girlfriend to make a documentary about pornography. They meet Alyssa, a young girl about to make her first porn. Despite tension and fighting among the crew, they set out to follow her into her new career as a porn star. But then Alyssa goes missing and the crew fears she may have fallen victim to a snuff film producer. Can they save her or will they die in the process? This movie was great and I also had a great time talking with Matt Rogers, the director. (Fun Fact: The "porn actresses" they interview are actually a local roller derby team.)

Ave Maria: When an aspiring filmmaker discovers his fiance is cheating on him with his best friend, he decides they have to die. To avoid being caught, he will kill other people to make it look like they were part of a fictional serial killer's spree. But even after he kills his fiance, the desire to kill remains. He embarks on making the first "crimentery" about his murders, but the police are starting to catch on. This was a good movie with an awesome twist ending, but the main character sounded like he was doing an impression of Hannibal Lecter throughout the whole movie. It was a great story with great cinematography, but the all the "Silence of the Lambs" influence took away from it.