There are a number of spoof movie trailers which “reimagine” a given movie via clever editing. These happen to be two of my favorites.

Scary Mary:

Shining:

Okay, my Drafts folder has reached critical mass. Here’s a bunch of random stuff for your amusement and edification.

Skull Wing Tips – A bit on the pricy side (although I don’t buy quality men’s shoes, so what do I know?), but a nice way to subtly introduce your personality into a Mundane job.

Skull-and-Spider Boxers – The Jack Skellington print is cute, although I question the wisdom of wearing underwear that says “Nightmare” on it.

Spooky Ink Stamps – Some of these are a bit cutesy, but a couple (like the bat from Inkadinkadoo) would be very nice for personalizing stationery.

M.A.C. Cosmetics – Their “Looks” section has a changing catalogue of ways to use their makeup to achieve different effects. They had some neat Goth looks for Halloween (although they’ve apparently taken them down now and there’s no archive, so rats), but there’s a Dita Von Teese how-to up right now.

Bat Clothespins – This site doesn’t list a source, but I must own some. (Hat tip to Rowan)

The Best Product Name Ever – I particularly like their tagline–in two languages, yet–“Inspired by the Original” (via BoingBoing)

I once had a friend send me a Harry & David gift basket, with the note that she had narrowly been talked out of sending (and here I’m quoting directly from the ad copy) “Ten Plagues of Egypt Chocolate Gift Basket! Yes, you too can down chocolate locusts, caramel boils, and dead cattle in this cheery collection.” I could most definitely be friends with whomever came up with the idea of a Ten Plagues chocolate collection.

Ditto for whomever produced this cute set of wine markers. Because nothing says “Party!” like a big suppurating boil.

There’s one for each of the Plagues. The set uses pretty commonly-available charms, so if you’re feeling crafty you could put together some of your very own.

Link (via Awesome)

No, not the book, although it’s a fine read. A real Halloween Tree.

I have a number of unusual Christmas-tree ornaments in the form of folk-art wooden ghosts, blown-glass spider webs, and much else; it’s surprising the ghoulish decorations you can find if you put your mind to it. Every year I joke that if I get one more gothy ornament I’m going to spray-paint the tree black and call it a day. I won’t actually go that far, at least not until Shadowboy reacts to this with a chuckle instead of wide-eyed horror, but in the meantime I can dream.

This month I think I’ll do a series on handmade spooky tree ornaments. Obviously, you can adapt these to the more traditional color palette if you really have to, but if that’s your gig you may be barking up the wrong blog.

Let’s start with an easy one that actually has a little bit of mainstream credibility: The Christmas Spider.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a yummy and nicely historical winter drink, great for warming up after building that snow, um, bat.

Lamb’s Wool was popular in Britain since at least the 15th Century, and probably much earlier. The name has been said to come from the fluffy appearance of the roasted apples, but it’s actually a corruption of la mas ubhal (Gaelic “day of the apple fruit”), a reference to apple harvesting.

Anyway, yum.

3 apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
3 Tablespoons butter
3 (12 ounce) bottles dark beer
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon mulling spices or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350F and place apples and butter in a baking dish. Bake 30 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan combine apples, beer, brown sugar and spices. (If using whole mulling spices, place in a tea ball or muslin bag.)
3. Bring to a simmer (do not boil), pour into mugs, and serve.

Note: The apples can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before continuing.

(NaBloPoMo is officially over so weekend posts probably won’t continue, but this is just one for good measure.)