Guided Tour as Documentary: Six Degrees of Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Mason Murders  has the best opening line in a book I've ever read:

"It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon."

This is the kind of opening line that lets you know you're not going to put the book down. Written by Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor during the Manson trials, the novel follows the Manson Family and their victims in exquisite detail, leading them into their final collisions.

Though, this isn't about the book, Helter Skelter. This is about the 2009 documentary Six Degrees of Helter Skelter, which explores the actual sites of the crimes committed by, and residences of the Manson Family.

The film starts unfortunately, with an opening line that let me know I was going to be disappointed. The dictionary definition of helter skelter is cited, and then juxtaposed this with what the narrator deemed would be Charles Manson's definition: "The end of the world brought on by the Beatles."

I could not believe that within the first 7 minutes of a documentary there would be such blatant misrepresentation of facts. In a nutshell, Manson did believe the Beatles knew about the end of the world, which he called "Helter Skeleter," but he did not believe that they were the ones "bringing it down." Helter Skelter was what Manson believed to be an inevitable race war.  For an unabridged explanation of Manson's interpretation of Helter Skelter, click here.
 



The whole documentary is lead like a Hollywood tour. That is because Six Degrees of Helter Skelter was directed by and stars a Hollywood tour guide, Dearly Departed Tours owner, Scott Michaels. This fact is made abundantly clear during the first 15 minutes of the film, which are devoted to Michaels' life story and proud show-and-tell of his morbid Hollywood memorabilia collection.

Michaels claims his legitimacy in the film by taking some time to besmirch other tour guides with his concept that a guide's own desire to be a famous actor is inversely proportional to how many facts they get right. Not a good argument to start with considering the evidence of Michaels' ego so far. The constant flow of hearsay, was irksome. Even facts that matched up to Bugliosi's novel were peppered with lines like, "I knew a guy who," and "I heard [insert famous actor] claims this."

Overall it was amateurish and masturbatory. Michaels didn't bother to re-record or cut out any of his stammering, or cute lines like, "I got my GPS bitch in the box thing." Most shots were of him walking to and fro the alleged crime scenes.  He was name-dropping like crazy, and only two people were interviewed. So much for all those guys he knows.

There are a few positive moments to note. Michaels used full color uncensored crime scene photos, and had video footage from Trent Reznor's stay at the Cielo Drive house. Recordings of Manson's songs were also played during the film, which were haunting, especially a song sung by the women of the Manson Family.

If you don't know much about the Manson Family murders, watch this film, but be forewarned that there is much more to know than what is presented. If you have ever read Helter Skelter, any other Manson related books, or seen any other Manson documentaries, watch Six Degrees of Helter Skelter for the crime photos, Reznor footage, and Manson music, but that's all that you will gain.

It is a neat concept to be taken to these crime scenes as a true to life alternative to a classic stuffy documentary. However, the novelty wears thin when you realize you aren't really there; you're watching a documentary. As tours go, it's pretty enthralling, but as documentaries go, it's a C+ at best.

Hunting for a Quailty Ghost Show

We all know that reality shows centered around ghosts have been very popular for the past few years. It started with the Ghost Hunters style shows; groups of rag-tag "ghost experts," psychics and mediums having sleep-overs with night-vision cameras. They jump at every sound, and the show's base soundtrack conveniently plays loudly over every sound bite of a ghost supposedly thumping or talking. They never find anything substantial, but how can you believe it at all with the way these shows are edited?

Currently the Unsolved Mysteries style ghost shows have been en vogue. These are allegedly true stories with interviews and reenactments similar to our favorite 1980's thriller, but without a stoic host like Robert Stack or a hotline. The most popular of these shows are My Ghost Story, Celebrity Ghost Stories, Paranormal Witness, and The Haunting. I prefer those shows, because even though there is always a risk of a person making-up the story, at least you have the gorey details straight from the horses mouth,  instead of watching a bunch of fools saying "did you hear that?" for a half hour.

In addition to all the ghost shows you can shake a stick at, there are the survival story shows, the hording shows, and animal rescue shows. I tweeted recently, "When are they going to make I Survived a Ghost Pet and what channel will it be on?" To my surprise, there is something on Animal Planet that loosely follows that description. Simply called The Haunted, this series follows the stories of pet owners who have experienced hauntings. This could be a good niche show if it actually spent a majority of the time focusing on the animal's experience, but it doesn't. It has been said that animals are known to be sensitive to ghosts and spirits, so why not milk that for all it's worth on a station aimed at people who already give a ton of credence to animals' actions?

When I first found this show, I was confused that it was on Animal Planet. There was nothing perceptively animal-centric about this show, until the haunted animal lover mentioned their pet pug was spooked. Here is an example of how generic this show is in an episode description:  

After having unusual experiences in their home, a family calls upon a paranormal team and demonologist to help. When they try to banish the entity from the home, it violently possesses one of the family members, and literally enters her body.

It would be very interesting and appropriate for the possessed "family member" to be a pet, but it is in fact a human woman. I turned on Animal Planet to watch a possessed dog, not a dog that ran under the couch while it's owner's soul was being eaten by a demon. I can watch that on any other channel.

From Paranormal Witness S01E03 The Poltergeist

The Haunted might be the worst, most contrived ghost show, but Paranormal Witness is the best of its kind. Not just focusing on ghosts, you can also hear about UFO's, strange beasts, and unexplainable coincidences. There are reenactments, but they don't hesitate to also use real videos or photos that are evidence of the paranormal experience. Having many witnesses, from different sides of the story, also helps with the credibility of the show.



If I could make my own ghost show I would feature people who actually have photos, videos, audio, etc. of the haunting. There would be no actor reenactments, no spooky music, especially not over recordings. There would be no embelishments; just the truth as the witnesses know it. The problem with the reenactments in these shows is that they are often padded with extra actions the witnesses never mention in the final cut of the interview. Obviously this causes a gullible viewer into thinking the haunting was more remarkable than it may have been, and alienates viewers that are genuinely interested in what actually happened. A stark portrayal with all the evidence layed out should be enough to make your hairs stand up.

I leave you with the question, can shows about "real life" ghost encounters legitimately fall under the documentary category? If there were any topic people could call bull s*#% on in a documentary format, it would be ghosts. Some people would call it a documentary about ghosts, and another group would call it a documentary about people who believe they saw a ghost. I can't say I wholeheartedly believe in spirits, but I want to be convinced with evidence. I will make it a mission of mine to find a convincing documentary about a haunting. If anyone has any recommendations, please leave a reply.

Dark Shadows: A Vampire TV Show Resurrected

I was listening to MF Doom's song, Hyssop on the way home from work, and it dawned on me that I used to LOVE the 1960's supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows. In the song MF Doom samples from the show's theme. I've always known this, but it was just one of those daily epiphanies that kicks you right in the head, and brought me back to 1996. Exactly 30 years after it first aired, I watched Dark Shadows in syndication on The Sci-Fi channel on summer afternoons. Other 70s sci-fi TV shows like Night Gallery got in the line up as well, but DS was my favorite. The show had hauntings, possessions, witches, mansions, creepy theme music, and it's main character was a 200 year-old vampire named Branabas Collins.




Dark Shadows was an introduction to my interest in the macabre. As a 9 year-old, it was the first time I watched something that was scary but enjoyed feeling unsettled. I became addicted to that feeling. Dark Shadows explains everything from my love of David Lynch to the lady boner I have for True Blood. Dark Shadows can be considered a rough pre-cursor to True Blood, in that the main character(s) are vampire, there are warewolves, witches, and ghosts. There's drama, supernatural perils, and love stories (though True Blood is hard-core porn compared to DS). I still prefer scary movies that are more psychological than gorey.



I was very excited to hear that Tim Burton is making a movie adaptation of Dark Shadows. Do I even have to tell you that Johnny Depp is in it? What's interesting is that the film is set in the 1970s, just like the original version of the show (DS was also remade for NBC in 1991). Burton could have just set it in present day, which obviously was the original intention of DS, but it's clear he wants to be true to the TV series. I'm hopeful for the quality of the movie, but I hope the obscurity of Dark Shadows as a cult TV show doesn't keep the project underground. How many puns can you get out of that sentence? 

Here's one last Dark Shadows video to send you off on. Though the show was not exactly meant for kids, DS clearly made an impact on that demographic. Even 30 years later a kid like me got into it. How very 60s to capitalize off a soap opera by making a children's board game out of it!

Care Package #2: My Guide to VICE.com Documentaries for You Hip People

Toxic: Garbage Island

VICE is a controversial magazine/website dedicated to (let's not mince words) hipsters. VICE covers fashion, music, pop culture, art, photography, sex, weirdos, gross-out journalism, travel, and bizarre cultural practices. While most of the content is written, there is a wealth of documentaries in the video section of their website. VICE is prolific in their documentary series which features a large cast of young journalists, and makes one wonder how profitable VICE actually is to be able to fund all of the travel expenses. Maybe it's all thanks to American Apparel.

The difference between VICE documentaries, and other documentaries I watch, is that VICE's are showcased in a blog.  Most of the films I watch, though I often view them online on Hulu or YouTube, have at least been in limited release in independent theaters at some point in time. The VICE documentaries debut in the 21st century version of direct to video: direct to the web and on a computer near you. Which is not to say that a VICE documentary is lesser than the average documentary. VICE screens the film off of their website so viewers' comments are visible, and there is related content and other fun stuff to look at that you might not have stumbled upon otherwise. The documentaries are presented in a relatable and vernacular style, which does not necessarily over-simplify the message; it makes you feel like you're taking in a genuine experience. Each documentary also belongs to a specific series. You can therefore see another documentary you liked with similar themes on a consistent basis. That's something the average documentary film maker can't promise you.
Here are three of my favorite VICE series to watch.

Hamilton's Pharmacopeia
Watching Hamilton go to exotic and dangerous places to alter his mind is such a joy. It sounds like going around the world just to try psychotropic drugs is a vapid activity, but the culture behind it is always intriguing, a prime example being the video below, Hamilton's Pharmacopeia: Nzambi. In this installment Hamilton goes to Haiti and explores what it means to be turned into a zombie using the traditional herbs, venom, and voodoo practices. It's always compelling seeing Hamilton try to cope with the new cultures and people he encounters, and well as the crazy things locals try to put in him. My two favorite episodes, Nzambi and The Sapo Diaries, both involve Hamilton taking drugs through the forearm, but not intravenously. You have to watch to find out how. 



Toxic
The series Toxic reveals the grittiest images of pollution in the modern world. The documentary, Toxic: Garbage Island, was my first taste of a VICE documentary. As seen in the video below, Garbage Island follows three VICE corespondents as they sail the North Pacific Gyre with a group of scientists collecting samples of plastic in the ocean. The Gyre contains a clump of plastic waste predicted to be the size of Texas. Aside from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Toxic has also been to the Amazon, West Virginia, and China, amongst others. Most installments of Toxic show how pollution deeply effects people and their environment as it is happening currently. I liked Garbage Island for turning pollution into a faceless, lurking, Jaws-esque villain. The crew is in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight, nothing seems amiss. Yet when they run their skimmer through the waves, out comes some terrifying stuff.



Vice Guide to North Korea
Shane Smith, founder of Vice Magazine and our guide through this documentary, put it best when he described North Korea is an insane country. Three points in this film that embody such insanity: the lonely tea-girl the crew met in the middle of nowhere who had not seen any customers for days, the massive banquet hall in the hotel filled with food for no one, and Arirang (a spectacular performance by thousands of children). Bizarrely, all of these activities were shared by Shane and the crew alone (because they won't let anyone else into North Korea). In this documentary, as well as North Korean Labor Camps and North Korean Film Madness, the delusions of this severely isolated country are revealed as sad and fascinating.

High Drama: The Best Bully Scenes from The Adventures of Pete & Pete

The Adventures of Pete & Pete is the best kids show from the mid 1990s. Well, at least it's my favorite. It's even better watching as an adult. Now, I understand how creative the show was; how they used classic film references in their dialog, lighting, and mise-en-scène. There are moments that get pretty intense. You can tell film noir was a huge inspiration to the directors. It makes it fun for the kids because it adds a level of seriousness to the simple conflicts in the show. At once it gives credence to what kids care about and what they deem to be important issues at their age, and it is as unavoidably silly as a parody in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

In retrospect, my favorite characters were the bullies. Ask 8 year-old Laura, and you might have gotten a different answer. (Bullies are mean, I like Artie). But the bullies had the most depth, and let's face it, were the most bad-ass. The bullies amassed like cold-hearted gangsters, with monikers and all.

Three of my favorite episodes that occurred in the third season (which there is an indefinite hold on the dvd release - write to your congressmen) involve the best skirmishes with bullies.

 In 35 Hours Older Pete turns to his nemesis Endless Mike Hellstrom as a last ditch effort to remove the lovely family Little Pete sold their parent's house to while they were on vacation. After being swayed with the promise of Neopolitain ice cream, we see Endless Mike break down the front door wielding an axe. He shouts, "Welcome!... to my nightmare!" like a freakin' serial killer. How did this get on kids TV? Ah the 90s, the good old days. Also Patty Hurst is in this one, so that's awesome.

In Pinned Endless Mike transfers schools just to compete against Big Pete in wrestling... and I guess murder him. His famous line as he walks into the ring dressed like a skeleton a la pro-wrestling, "I am the Doctor of Death, and I have come to cure you of your life." AH! So bad-ass! This episode has the BEST uses of mob movie/film noir plot devices, moods, music, dialog, and tension.

[Handing Pete a kidney]"Say hello to my kidney, three pounds four ounces" In the weigh-in scene, Endless Mike goes as far as to remove one of his molars to be in Big Pete's weight class. Again, how was this on kid's TV?

In this Little Pete centered story, Dance Fever, bully Pit Stain, antagonizes Pete when he finds out that Pete is afraid to dance at the school dance. One of my favorite lines that makes me laugh out loud in it's absurdity is said by Pit Stain near the end of the episode.
"Dancing is so easy... you just get out there and ruin your life."

This line paired with the music and the tension of Pit Stain walking closer and closer to Little Pete makes the scene ludicrously dramatic, but that's the beauty of it. As a kid you feel like it's that big of a deal.

Also Luscious Jackson play the band providing the tunes for this middle school dance. Let's not forget Iggy Pop as Nona's enthusiastic dad, and that brief appearance by Laurisa Oleynik as a nurse. I vividly remember the commercial bump for that mind-blowing Nickelodeon cross-series cameo made by Alex Mac. This episode is a perfect time capsule for the mid 90s. 

It's the kind of show that I watch now, and feel blessed that I grew up with its influence. Makes me feel a little better about being glued to the TV as a kid. I hope you enjoy these videos and it inspires you to watch the whole series.

Halloween: Conclusion: Nurse Ginger Achieved

"Drop DEAD."

 I had a lovely time being Nurse Ginger for the weekend! The makeup was so fun to put on. I made thick eyebrows with reckless abandon, tons of eye makeup, and pointy fire engine red lips. I know that the beauty marks are not dead-on compared to the picture, but to be fair you see them move on her face from shot to shot in The Devil's Cleavage.

Never thought about it before, but fake beauty marks are pretty odd in general. It's the one aspect of makeup that is a believable facial feature. That's one face-lie you don't want to get caught up in. It would be cool to really have beauty marks, but I'm okay with not actually having monster eyebrows.

Walter White (Matt Aromando) and Nurse Ginger (Laura Miner)

P.S.
Shout out to Jelly Shot Test Kitchen for their Jellied Eyeballs jello shot recipe. I used last year's technique with the Kamikaze shot recipe, and it was a hit at the party I went to. Check out the past five posts they did. They're all Halloween-centric: candy corn, skulls, bats, green potion, and a brand new eyeball recipe.  It will blow your mind!
Happy Haunting...

Halloween: Go Obscure of Go Home: An Homage to G. Kuchar

This is what I'm going to be for Halloween: Nurse Ginger from George Kuchar's 1975 film, The Devil's Cleavage. I am aware that 99% of the people I encounter with this costume will have no idea what I am specifically (unless people actually read this blog entry). However, Halloween is about enjoying yourself and being someone different for a night. It doesn't really matter if people know what my character is, I just know it will still creep people out. And it's not me, so that's step one of having a great costume. Oh no, I'm not a sexy nurse, not a zombie nurse, just a nurse with severe makeup that carries a bottle of fake vomit with her. You know.

Me on 10/31/11

 

Halloween is also about respecting the dead. Director George Kuchar passed away on September 6th of this year. And it was just this year that my love for the films of him and his brother Mike was ignited. After viewing the documentary, It Came From Kuchar, I realized I had seen one of his movies in a film class: Hold Me While I'm Naked.  The film really touched me in it's pre-Water's campyness, but I never knew about the other films until recently. George was teaching film at San Francisco Art Institute and still making awesomely weird movies until his death. 

So this year, in honor of a great film-maker/makeup artist, and a weird character, I will try to do Ginger justice. Stay tuned to see the finished product.

So You Liked Absinthe When It Was Cool

Isn't Art Nouveau great?

Absinthe was hugely popular until right around WWI, when it became illegal. Before then, it was mysterious in it's qualities, and widely available. Then, bootleggers began making it on their own, and it continued to be mysterious underground.
A major discussion in the documentary, Absinthe (2010), is how will the drink change since absinthe has become legal again? Most of the persons interviewed said that absinthe would never be the same after legalization. The number of bootleggers during the prohibition created many different versions of absinthe that will be out-shone by mainstream competitors. They reason that the legalization will lead to only a couple major companies making the absinthe, taking away the mystery, the variety, and most importantly the "charm."
It's like the simple ecological concept, that taking the diversity out of our environments will ultimately destroy them. If we take absinthe out of the underground who knows how a major corporation will alter it for mainstream consumption. Mainly it just wont be as much fun.
However, in the film there were a few supporters of the legalization of absinthe, and very rationally, their point is that the legalization would officially discredit those making a bottled green slurry with the name absinthe on it. Standards will be established to make a true absinthe that will give you an authentic experience, and will not make you go blind. That might out-way the fun of drinking something illegal and unchecked. 


Why Aleister Crowley is the main image of this video is unclear, but it certainly caught my attention.

It's the conundrum of wanting to keep things the way they used to be, but being very particular of how far back your "used to be" is. Ironically, the way it was before the prohibition seems to not be in the forefront of their minds. The absinthe scene of 1800's Paris sounds like the kind of everyday life hipsters wish existed: artists, poets, scholars, bohemians and aristocrats alike getting wasted together nearly everyday from 5-7 (the "green hour" as it was called). Instead these people seem to be pro prohibition just so they can stay underground. The bootleggers worked too hard, the clandestine drinkers worked too hard to find the bootleggers, to have it come so easy for everyone to enjoy.
I don't think (to the delight of people who care about things being too mainstream) that absinthe could ever be as big as it was at it's inception, even after legalization. But if we all had access to the real, pure thing, you have to admit it would be sweet. [Insert cheesy metaphorical quip involving the sugar cube used in absinthe preparation] 

The original absinthe craze sounds like nothing American's have ever truly experienced in alcoholic mania. One could say Four Loko was like absinthe, in that it was an extremely potent and infamous alcoholic beverage that was like nothing else out there. However, it only lasted about a year before it was banned, and I don't believe it was ever sighted as a catalyst for any great paintings or poetry, or converging of classes.

As for the documentary it self, it's pretty bare-bones, but informative. The only real complaint I have is that at a certain part, someone said commonly bootlegged versions of absinthe had copper compounds to make it green, which can explain commonly reported symptoms of absinthe drinkers at the time. However, it is never said what the symptoms of copper poisoning are. It was an easy Google fix, but it would have been more compelling to hear it from those interviewed. Clocking in at only 69 min, Absinthe is short and sweet... (much like the life of a sugar cube over a glass of absinthe?)

Radiators Empty, Check.

Last night I felt a little too comfortable being home alone, so I popped Eraserhead in the player.




Yup. Right in the player. It made me think about the first time I saw Eraserhead (David Lynch's first full-length film).
The first Lynch-directed thing I saw was the entire Twin Peaks series, which I own on VHS. I was in the 7th grade when I first got into Twin Peaks. Bravo was playing it in reruns in 2000, but before they aired the whole series, it abruptly ended and was replaced by reruns of The West Wing. Back when Bravo used to be good, damn it!
My obsession never waned, and my cousin was nice enough to give me some VHS tapes of the first 3 episodes as they aired in 1990, as well as some fan books left behind by an old roommate. When I was 14, my parents got me the Twin Peaks Box set for Christmas. Every day of winter break I was captivated and hungry for more of that puzzling feeling you get when you watch something directed by David Lynch.
Never following his filmography chronologically, it wasn't until after viewing most of Lynch's films, and being well seasoned in his archetypes and quirks, that I saw Eraserhead. The film is unsettling, to say the least, pulling on nightmarish thoughts that use nearly no gore or traditional terror. What I always admired about Lynch's brand of fear is that he mostly plays on the uncomfortable. It's random, it's different, and sometimes it is the unknown that is the scariest of all.
While Eraserhead still makes me check the radiators before bedtime, I have to say I wish I saw it as a Lynch virgin. I went in for the first time wondering what kind of twisted psychological terror was to be unleashed on me. But I left the experience feeling like I knew too much to ever have a pure reaction. The film explains how Lynch's films have progressed; where his blond vs. brunette, timeless world, creepy music, awkward pauses, and random spasms all came from. If Eraserhead was the first thing I saw of Lynch, especially when I was 12, I honestly don't know how my current level of fandom would stand: super-duper fan, or reluctant and traumatized.  But Eraserhead is still my go-to movie for a sufficient creep-out.  It's a classically confounding Lynch movie. To me, the film is about a man's nightmare, which easily explains away why a lot of it doesn't make sense.  In researching the film I found this intriguing and frustrating passage on Wikipedia,
 He went on to write about the difficulties he was having making sense of the way the film was "growing" and didn't know "the thing that just pulled it all together." He then reveals it was the Bible that provided the solution:

So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it; that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.

Lynch states in the book that he doesn't think he will ever reveal what the vision-fulfilling Biblical verse is.
The Bible has never been of more interest to me as it is right now.
But I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who appreciates David Lynch's idiosyncrasies. Notdavidlynch's YouTube channel, features some extremely funny and spot-on Lynch impressions. I'm a big fan of the David Lynch & Crispin Glover's Big Blockbuster featuring pimplywimp. It pretty much sums up the Lynch experience in a hilarious way.
Enjoy!

Woo! Berry

Several years ago I heard the whisperings of the great Pinkberry.  At the time they were only in major cities like NYC, but some small town copycats soon surfaced. The first time I had the tangy plain yogurt with fruit toppings, that we currently identify as fro-yo, was at Juniper on Thayer St. in Providence, RI. At this point I was quite used to the sweet soft serve fro-yo that you can get at Greek pizza restaurants all over Boston. You watch them take a log of white and put a drill to it, and you get a one-size-fits-all pint.
Then the fro-yo craze came over like wildfire. In Boston you got your BerryLine (my personal fave), Berry Freeze, Mixx, Chill, Bubble Berry (now open in Allston) and even Pinkberry made it to Boston and Cambridge this year. There are even some rumblings about Tasti D Lite. Now Worcester has gotten in on the game, and they are doing an exemplary job.

WooBerry, located on the corner of Highland and West st. in Worcester, MA, has the most toppings available that I have seen to date. They have a good amount of frozen yogurt flavors, rotating about five or six, but it's the toppings that really impressed me.
They have about five different flavors of boba including lychee (yum!), and they offer locally farmed peaches from Massachusetts. They even have a menu of topping combination suggestions, named after the employees, and I assume concocted with their expertise. Seen in the image above, my bf and I got lemon fro-yo topped with orange flavored boba, and Dr. Gonzo's Gummie Bites. An eclectic combination, I know.
Let me tell you a little bit about the two toppings I mentioned. Though they are called boba, these little spheres are not what I would consider traditional tapioca balls. It was not the gummy, slimy, brown stuff you get in bubble tea, they are like giant fruit-flavored caviar. It's a thin membrane filled with juice. Nothing like I've ever had before. Different, and awesome.
Dr. Gonzo's Gummie Bites were given to me with some caution. Upon ordering them I was asked "Are you sure?" There were regular gummie bears on the menu, but I thought I would choose one I haven't had before. My boyfriend, Matt, a native of Worcester, informed me of Dr. Gonzo's Emporium of Uncommon Condiments. What we didn't know was the subtitle of this name (as you can see on the website) was All-Natural Mega-Spicy Emporium. So the clerk asked "Are you sure?" We said yes. The gummy bears were covered in chili powder. They had a nice slow burn, but it didn't linger, and eating them on cold frozen yogurt helped. Also, the citrus/chili combo was actually very appropriate. 
This frozen yogurt joint is not just a Pinkberry copy-cat; they made it completely their own. And once you thought it couldn't get better, all their bowls and spoons are bio-degradable. WooBerry guarantees a special and appetizing experience. I highly recommend it if you're in the Woo (Worcester).