Tanna Marshall

After watching "Scream 4" (among many other horror movies this past weekend), I heard that line way too many times. But it was part of the scary fun....well, for the audience at least. I have always loved Halloween and more specifically, horror movies. I was watching the scariest, goriest films out there by the time I was six. I have no idea why it fascinated me so much, but it did and never bothered me or gave me nightmares. I remember when I was twelve a neighbor had the Z Channel (anyone remember when there was only ONE cable movie channel?) so I went over and watched “The Exorcist” three nights in a row. I know - what's wrong with that 12 year old? Later on I was more into the slasher movies because I wanted to be a make-up artist specializing in gore. I loved to see all the different scenarios and wondered how they made it look so real. I didn’t become a professional make-up artist, but I lived out that fantasy every Halloween, coming up with the grossest an...

I recently got a new license plate, which I love. (Pictued here) Let me tell you how I finally arrived at this message after many plate changes… I have always had personalized plates – even before I started driving. When my parents bought a new car when I was 11, I asked if we could get personalized plates, so they got “4 Tanna”. I know – I’m spoiled. Of course, the plates were transferred to my first car when I was 16 – my dream car, a metallic blue ’75 superbeetle named “Elliott”. (I got him right after I’d seen E.T.) I even wrote a song about my love affair with Elliott when I had a singing duo with my friend Stacey in the early 1990’s. I enjoyed having a personal plate and usually had a custom frame to send yet another message out to my fellow drivers. I think the first one I had read, “Have you hugged Tanna today?” Eventually, I got tired of strangers calling out my name acting as if they knew me so I got new plates when I was going through my Doors phase. I was in ...

OK obviously, I am in love with my hammock. We spend a lot of quality time together, mostly during warm weather, and if I don’t get outside for my special time, I feel it. I love the view from my hammock – I always think that would be a nice title for a daily weather report. This is the actual view from my hammock today – it’s beautiful and clear in LA after a stormy day yesterday. It’s getting colder but the sun is still warm, so there will still be Hammocktime! (I always put this to MC Hammer’s “Hammertime” in my head) I try to get out and spend some time, not only to relax, meditate, align with my spirit and reconnect with nature, but also for my daily dose of Vitamin D from the sun. There is something about relaxing in this particular spot – it could be that I’m surrounded by so much beautiful, lush greenery, a swaying palm tree, birds, butterflies and bees humming around doing their thing – or it could be my personal philosophy about why a hammock is so comfortable and co...