The Art of Darkness

The Link Dump of Casterbridge

September 30th, 2016 by Cobwebs

Monster Sketch – Marty Feldman’s classic sketch in which he takes a stray monster he found to the vet.

Skull Hat and Scarf – Cute crocheted set.

Erma – The Season Has Come – My sentiments exactly.

Raven: A Pop-up Book – I sort of wonder what Poe would have thought if he’d been told his poem would one day get the pop-up treatment.

Werewolf Slashed Baklava – Neat Halloween-themed dessert.

Microsculpture – Gorgeous insect macrophotography by Levon Biss.

Real Monsters – Anxiety, Depression, and other mental illnesses depicted as part of a bestiary of monsters.

Black Cat Jug Band – Cute printable desk decoration.

The House – Point-and-click game with a horror theme. (Hat tip to DeVries)

H.R. Giger’s Beautiful Monster – A mini-documentary on the design of the Xenomorph from Alien.

Posted in Link Dump | 4 Comments »

The Link Dump in the Rye

September 23rd, 2016 by Cobwebs

Black Metal Legend Elected to Norwegian Town Council Against His Will – “I’m a pillar of my community.” (via pdq)

Agatha Christie Stamps – The UK is releasing a series of dark-and-gothy postage stamps in honor of Agatha Christie.

The Object Lesson – Animated version of Edward Gorey’s weird little comic…thing. (Hat tip to Pixel Pixie)

Channel Zero – The Syfy network has launched a Creepypasta-inspired anthology series.

Dead Bury the Dead – Cut from The Legendary Shack Shakers’ album Southern Surreal, described as “true” southern gothic. (Hat tip to perk)

Dat Ás – Pinup calendar featuring the Norse gods.

Candy Monster Toes – If you actually buy Circus Peanut candy (instead of reacting normally, by shrieking and making the sign of the cross at them), here’s an easy way to make cartoony “monster toes.”

1887 Ladies – Cool collection of comic book heroines illustrated in a steampunk style. (Hat tip to DeVries)

Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party – A new web series by Shipwrecked Comedy, billed as “Midnight in Paris meets Clue.

The Key Armory – Sells “nerdy” key blanks shaped like swords. (via xJane)

Posted in Link Dump | 3 Comments »

Seen Online

September 20th, 2016 by Cobwebs

Real women have razor-sharp teeth and barbed tentacles and oh god who opened a portal to the real women dimension THEY’RE COMING RUN
missokistic

I am not paying for a full year membership at the Y when I only need the pool long enough to hold one hamster Viking funeral.
ninjadinosaur1

I love how in Addams Family Values at the beginning they’re like is it a boy? is a girl? and Gomez is just like IT’S AN ADDAMS :D like stop trying to gender my baby, it’s goth that’s all that matters
vivisextion

[medusa’s husband sighing and pulling a wad of snakes out of the shower drain]
TheCatWhisprer

You are haunted by the ghosts of Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore, and there absolutely no one you can call
badedgecases

Ghosts are hard to photograph because, when alive, many didn’t believe in ghosts, and now they’re embarrassed to be ghosts, so they hide.
thewritertype

Every time I feel unexpected pain, I wonder if my descendants got hit so hard that their ancestors could feel it.
rShowerThoughts

A man I don’t know tells me to smile. My jaw unhinges and the True Me emerges from my throat. She is smiling, but not like he’d hoped.
ErinEph

lavabendinggemqueen:
      writing-prompt-s:
      Cthulhu, as an eldritch being, sees humans as humans see insects;
       which is to say, harmless but inexplicably terrifying.
#cthulhu chasing humanity around with a shoe while crying

Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s the result of a freak lab accident that altered her DNA and turned her into a–look, just run already.
missokistic

Posted in Funny Peculiar | 3 Comments »

28 Link Dumps Later

September 16th, 2016 by Cobwebs

Build a Giant Tentacle Monster – Fairly easy build for a great yard decoration.

Charmed-BOS – deviantART collection of pages from the Charmed Book of Shadows. These would be great to print out and decoupage into a book as a Halloween prop.

Halloween Pretzels – Easy DIY for party treats.

31 Horror Days – A countdown of weirdly adorable animated gifs featuring horror icons. (Hat tip to Pixel Pixie)

Horror Fiction Quiz – Most of my readers could probably pass this with one eye tied behind their back.

Asylum Wreath – Tutorial for an Arkham Asylum-themed wreath.

A Comic About a Vampire and a Friend – Check out the rest of this artist’s Tumblr, too. She likes vampires a lot.

Octopus George – This be-tentacled felted backpack is a thing of squishy beauty.

Buffy – One of artist Craig Drake’s excellent SF/fantasy prints.

Jack Skellington Candy Apples – Cute, reasonably easy (assuming you have a steady hand) DIY candied apples. Check out some of the user’s other videos, like these bat cookies.

Posted in Link Dump | 2 Comments »

It’s Secret Pumpkin Time Again!

September 14th, 2016 by Cobwebs

Secret Pumpkin Logo

The Secret Pumpkin gift exchange was conceived as a way to soothe those spooky souls pining for October by sending them a little Halloween in April. It’s similar to a Secret Santa exchange but the gifts are supposed to be spooky in nature; you can read my previous description and details here.

And now it’s time to open up registration for next April’s exchange! If you’d like to participate, go to the Secret Pumpkin site:

1) If you did not participate last year, click the “Join” link and fill out the form.

2) If you DID participate last year, log in, click the “Update Profile” link and change the “Activate My Membership” option to Yes.

(Just in case it isn’t clear–folks have been confused in the past–I’m the person who manages the site, so you aren’t blindly submitting your mailing address to some anonymous stranger.)

I’d previously suggested that participants should join one of the two Halloween listservs which originally spawned the exchange, but they’ve withered away so much that they may actually be defunct; instead I send occasional reminders directly to the participants.

You can sign up even if you aren’t in the U.S., and if you encourage friends from the same country to participate you don’t have to worry about exorbitant shipping. My script matches people in the same country preferentially, and at the end of the signup period I’ll let you know if you’re the only one in your country so you can decide whether or not to participate.

The deadline for signups is October 15. All that I ask is please, PLEASE don’t sign up for the exchange unless you’re serious about following through. We occasionally have participants flake out, and their Pumpkins are always sorely disappointed.

C’mon and join! It’s lots of fun, and getting something unexpectedly Halloweeny in April is a treat.

Posted in Whatever | No Comments »

Free Osteoarchaeology Course

September 12th, 2016 by Cobwebs

If you like to look at bones (and who doesn’t?), the faculty of Archaeology at Universiteit Leiden is offering a free online course on the subject.

We are pleased to announce that on the 30th of September Dr. Andrea Waters-Rist from the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University (The Netherlands) will be launching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) all about human osteoarchaeology! “Osteoarchaeology: The Truth in Our Bones” provides a basic introduction to human osteoarchaeology for people with no previous experience in this scientific field.

In this free online course, learners will explore the many things that can be learned about life in the past and present by studying the human skeleton. After starting with sex, age-at-death, and stature estimation from skeletal remains, other themes including disease and trauma, diet and infant feeding, activity patterns, and mobility and migration are discussed. Students will learn how to reconstruct the lives that past peoples were living from the clues that are contained in their bones and teeth.

More information is available here.

We would be very grateful if you passed on this information to any individuals that might be interested in being introduced to the study of archaeological human skeletal remains.

(via Girls With Bones)

Posted in Resources | No Comments »

Stranger Link Dumps

September 9th, 2016 by Cobwebs

The 13 Clocks – A story by James Thurber (with intro by Neil Gaiman) described by BoingBoing as, “Grimm’s Fairytales meet The Phantom Tollbooth.”

Haunted Mansion Tiki Mug – Disney will be selling a limited-edition “Mahaloween” tiki mug, perfect for serving zombies.

Love the Unloved – Attractive poster which celebrates the less-attractive creatures of the world.

Beautiful Beaded Dragons – These intricate beaded dragons made by artist Alena Litvin are amazingly detailed.

Salt Bride – Artist Sigalit Landau submerged a wedding dress in the Dead Sea for three months, which allowed it to become covered with salt crystals.

The Worst Stings in the World – Entomologist Justin Schmidt has been stung by a wide variety of insects, resulting in Schmidt’s Pain Scale. Some of the descriptions sound sort of like wine varietals: “Western Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W.C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.”

Toothsome Chocolate Emporium – Photo tour of a new steampunk-themed “dessert foundry.” Part 2 of the post is here.

Are there a lot of spiders in NZ, compared to the US. – Spectacular Reddit thread where the whole sub just bought into a concept and ran with it.

Freshly Ground Sprinkles – Although not exactly goth, this DIY project is oddly hilarious.

Twisted History – A grisly look at history’s worst despots, traitors, and murderers.

Posted in Link Dump | 2 Comments »

Super-Terrific Giveaway Thing

September 5th, 2016 by Cobwebs

Teschio MaskOh boy, you guys; have I got a treat for you.

A couple of years ago the nice people at VIVO masks sponsored a giveaway with my readers, and they recently contacted me to ask if I’d like to do it again. Hells, yeah; their stuff is awesome.

Last time we arranged with them to ship directly to the winner, so I never got my hands on the mask. This time they sent it to me to ship out, which means I can comment more specifically on the quality of the mask and I can open up the giveaway to overseas readers.

The mask they’re giving away is the Teschio Black, a metal masquerade piece in the shape of a skull. It’s an absolutely gorgeous piece, and is perfect for the goth set. I could imagine designing a whole cosplay outfit around this mask.

VIVO has hundreds of different styles, all handmade in Italy, and they ship worldwide. Given the quality, the prices are surprisingly reasonable. Their Masquerade Blog is pretty neat, too; they have a lot of suggestions for things like decorating for Halloween.

If you’d like to enter to win this mask, just leave a comment on this post by Friday, September 16. A winner will be chosen at random.

Thanks again to VIVO for the lovely giveaway opportunity!

Update:

Random NumberThe contest is over and random.org spat back the magic number 10, which means Mim is the proud owner of the mask. I shall snail-mail it to her forthwith.

Thanks to everyone who played along!

Posted in Whatever | 26 Comments »

Pete’s Link Dump

September 2nd, 2016 by Cobwebs

Lovecraft Movies – IMDB list of movies with a plot by or inspired by Lovecraft.

The Global Werewolf Cultural Divide – A Tumblr thread takes on werewolf problems.

Giant Cockroach Raft – Inflatable raft that allows you to fulfill your dream of swimming around with a giant cockroach. (Everybody has that dream, right?)

The Lost Boys is Being Remade as an Anthology Series for The CW – First the Beetlejuice musical, now this.

Spot Message – This app is being compared to Pokemon Go, except you see dead people. (via pdq)

The Totally Useful Loot Generator – Random loot generator which mixes D&D-esque magic items with low-quality journalism. “You killed the dreaded Dire Chimera! For some reason, it was holding onto‌‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌a +5 Ectoplasmic Sai that only wants to talk about how Hollywood never does anything but half-assed remakes these days.‌‌‌‌‌‌‌”

Like a Virgin – Happle Tea does Bathory.

Adorable Spiders – A blog of cuteness. They do species identifications, too.

Sabyasachi’s Firdaus Collection – Not exactly goth, but this collection of Indian couture is mind-blowingly detailed.

Goat Story – Horn-shaped coffee mug (with strap), in case you want to look like a Viking in the morning staff meeting.

Posted in Link Dump | 3 Comments »