This isn’t precisely goth, but it’s an important topic in any community.

Fan conventions sometimes have problems with sexual harassment. Unfortunately all too often in these situations, complaints are overlooked or dismissed; sometimes the convention doesn’t have a complaint procedure in place at all. The targets of harassment are often told that it’s “their fault,” especially if they’re dressed in a costume that could be construed as provocative. Sometimes they’re so upset that they just want to forget it ever happened. This is the kind of thing that predators count on.

Author Elise Matthesen was recently “creeped upon” at SF convention WisCon by an influential editor (she’s circumspect about identifying him but someone with knowledge of the incident names him as James Frenkel and I’m more than happy to boost the signal). She decided to not let it slide and reported it to both the con management and his employer. She writes about her experience here and includes a guide to reporting harassment for others who might find themselves in a similar situation.

She notes specifically that she might have been much more reluctant to make a formal complaint if she’d been younger and less sure of her professional footing, fearing that an editor might be able to make things difficult for a new writer. She also learned that hers was not the first complaint about Frenkel, but it was the first formal one, and that made an enormous difference. The whole piece is worth a read, as are the comments.

Harassment is never the fault of the harassed, and reporting it is important for shutting it down. For other resources, see Cosplay is NOT Consent (Facebook), the Con Anti-Harassment Project, and Jim C. Hines’ resource list.

(No prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.)

1. In Stephen King’s Misery, Annie Wilkes has a pet named “Misery.” What kind of animal is it?
2. Jaws author Peter Benchley has a cameo in the movie. Who does he play?
   A) Newspaper reporter
   B) Marine biologist
   C) TV newscaster
   D) Doctor
   E) Fisherman
3. An orangutan is revealed to be the murderer in this story by Edgar Allan Poe, widely viewed as the first modern detective story.
4. In Poltergeist, this pet dies early in the film. Its burial in the backyard foreshadows the discovery of other things buried there.
   A) Goldfish
   B) Cat
   C) Parakeet
   D) Dog
   E) Lizard
5. The classic Hitchcock movie The Birds was loosely based on a short story of the same name by this goth-friendly author.
6. This H.P. Lovecraft novella details an expedition to Antarctica and the discovery of Elder Things who use giant mutated penguins as livestock.
   A) The White Ship
   B) Beyond the Wall of Sleep
   C) The Nameless City
   D) At the Mountains of Madness
   E) The Other Gods
7. Harold the dog and Chester the cat are convinced that their family’s new pet rabbit is a vampire in this cute children’s story.
8. Sherlock Holmes uses this dog as a tracker in several stories.
   A) Toby
   B) Raffles
   C) Billy
   D) Gladstone
   E) Mary
9. The monsters in the classic SF/horror film Them! are giant irradiated specimens of what insect?
10. In Jurassic Park, gaps in dinosaur DNA are filled with DNA from what modern creature?
    A) Crocodile
    B) Bird
    C) Turtle
    D) Frog
    E) Iguana

(Answers below the fold)

Read the rest of this entry »

The Badpiper bills himself as “the world’s only flame-throwing, punk rock piper.” Here he is performing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”

I think my favorite part is the deeply puzzled crowd of onlookers.

(Hat tip to Bonni)

Bottom Feeders – Lovely, delicate ceramics encrusted with tentacles and other seagoing critters. The artist sells a few pieces on Etsy.

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits – Useful reference book. The same author has written a number of similar tomes, including The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology, The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca, and The Encyclopedia of Vampires and Werewolves.

The Emotionary – “Words that don’t exist for feelings that do.”

My Backyard Monsters – Weird little crocheted things, many with free patterns. Who doesn’t need a miniature Kodama or a taxidermy deer butt?

Russian Tampon Commercial – Now that’s an effective ad campaign.

Light-up Anglerfish Embroidery – Simple project which features a light-up “lure.” The same technique could be used to, say, give an embroidered bat glowing eyes.

Haunted Mansion Wallpaper – DoomBuggies claims that this print is from the same graphic used by Disney for the “official” attraction wallpaper. They also have the print in fabric.

Halloween Nail Art – Some of these are just ridiculously detailed.

Goth Swim Suits – A roundup.

Kathie Olivas – Artist who specializes in cutely creepy children in surreal surroundings. I quite like this little girl and her pet.

Intrepid commenter Kaitlin Michelle recently emailed me with an interesting proposal:

So I had this idea about a gothic-y pen pal service thing, because traditional letters are awesome…and the closest thing I found so far was geek girl international pen pal, which I did sign up for, but it isn’t the same type of people. I was wondering if I could scrounge up some rules/make a flyer/blog post or something if you would be interested in it, and if you would want to put something on your blog about it.

This struck me as a splendid idea, because traditional letters are awesome. Be honest: When was the last time you took the time to sit down and physically write a letter to somebody? When was the last time you found something in your mailbox besides bills and junk mail? Far too long, right? Time to change that!

Kaitlin’s idea of matching gothy people is especially great, not only because it’ll be fun to make new like-minded friends, but also because we’re just the sort to come over all Edgar Allan Poe with the handwritten missives and the thoughtful prose and, for all I know, the quill pen and sealing wax.

I told her I’d be happy to help spread the word, so she sent me the copy below. Note that I am not involved in this venture other than as a messenger, so questions and comments should be directed to her sivleyk@gmail.com address. (I expect she’d probably answer questions in this post’s comment section as well.)

Love the night? Into The Cure, or Joy Division? Can’t stop re-reading Edgar Allen Poe or Dracula? Wish everyday was Halloween? Wish you had more friends that felt like you? Then it’s time to dust off those quills and bottles of ink, because we are going back to the lost art of letter writing (snail mail!), and we would like you to join in. All people of the night (13+) who love to send and receive letters in the old fashioned mail box are welcome to participate in our pen pal program.

All you need to do to sign up is email sivleyk@gmail.com with the subject header Pen Pal and a small description of yourself (including age & gender) and a small list of your Goth-y loves, and you will be paired with a pen pal match. We will then send you an email letting you know who your match is, and where you can write to them.

Only a letter or postcard is required, but want to do more than just write? Why not! Add some Goth flair to your mail, and throw in some bat doodles, provide a playlist of your favorite dark songs, add a little Halloween decoupage, or chunk in some Edward Gorey stickers. The list of things you could do to nighten up your mail is endless! Have fun and create something fantastic!

Try to mail your pen pal within 2 weeks of being matched, but if life gets in the way, send them an email letting them know they will get your letter soon.

If you don’t feel comfortable giving out your address right away, get to know each other first by emailing/chatting/or facebooking.

Aside from anything you aren’t allowed to mail normally, (like liquids, live animals or hazardous materials) we also ask that you not send religious or political propaganda, business solicitations, and offensive or pornographic material.

We cannot be held responsible for the outcome of any contact of any kind made between you. We do hope you use common sense, and if you decide you feel uncomfortable giving your address out, don’t.

Every Scooby-Doo mystery could be solved by asking, “1: Who is your most disgruntled employee?” and “2: Does he have access to a mask shop?”
— rolldiggity

If I die, please avenge me. If it’s an accidental death, just go nuts on whoever.
— donni

instead of “thats what she said” start incorporating “thats how my grandma died” in its place
— yogurtpyramid

The meanest criminal ever would send back his last meal, just to ruin one final person’s day.
— GuyEndoreKaiser

I want my hearse to have ‘JUST DIED’ written on the windshield with cans tied to the rear bumper.
— Breadery

I would describe my personal style as “this smelled clean.”
— bazecraze

The song “Hush Little Baby” always has me wondering why they’re trying to buy this child’s silence? INFANT, WHAT DID YOU SEE?
— HonestToddler

Worried a serial killer might jump out from behind my shower curtain and start reading Twilight to me.
— owlcity

all you need to know about my thought process is that I recently screamed when I saw a sign on a restaurant that said ENDLESS CRAB LEGS
— aRealLiveGhost

Instead of saying “in bed” at the end of my fortune, I say “but then, a pestilence will come…”
— bazecraze

If anyone needs me, I’ll be at the hospital leaving robots and newspapers from the year 2310 in the rooms of coma patients.
— rolldiggity

As you may have heard, Google has decided to shut down its RSS reader as of July 1. There is much anguish in the blogosphere about this, but unfortunately the downside to using a free service is that there isn’t much recourse if the provider yanks it out from under you.

Fortunately several alternative readers have stepped up to fill the void. Of the ones I’ve sampled, The Old Reader, G2reader, and Feedly seem to be most Google-like (and Feedly offers a one-click import from Google, which is darn handy). There are reviews of other readers at Gizmodo, TechCrunch, LifeHacker, and Marketingland, plus searching for “Google Reader alternatives” will bring up plenty more. PCMag has a good overview of migrating your feeds.

If you subscribe to this blog (or, y’know, some other blogs, but this is the important one), don’t forget to migrate to another service. I’d hate to lose you as a reader.

Tumblr makes me stabby.

Intrepid commenter pdq pointed me to these splendid bat-wing shoes on a Tumblr site that calls itself “Emmanilona” on sub-pages and “Emma Metso” on the main page. The same site has a lot of other interesting designs, such as this neon-green corset, which the notes say were “made for a customer.” Unfortunately, the site appears to have no contact information or other details about the artist, so good luck trying to become a customer yourself. (Googling either name is similarly unhelpful.)

The company these shoes were made for, Cloudberry Lady, is a Finnish “Lolita” brand; their Tumblr lists the artist’s name as “Emma Tsurumoto,” but I can’t find any other information about a designer with that name either. Also their post (made a few weeks ago) notes that the shoes are still available for purchase, but there’s no link and a browse through their online store turns up zilch.

Tumblr sucks at conveying useful information, is what I’m saying here.

Anyway, the idea is interesting and the designer (whoever she is) has an earlier post with photos of the shoe being mocked up with paper wings. It’d be interesting to try a DIY version, either as part of the shoe (perhaps hot-glued on to an inexpensive pair of pumps) or as something like spats with an elastic band that fit around the ankle. Pleather, vinyl, or even stiff-ish cloth (maybe with an extra layer of interfacing) are all reasonably easy to work with and should provide decent results. Matching wings on a hair bow or decorating the front of a clutch would be a nice additional touch.

(Thanks, pdq!)

Waste is a short film which follows one man’s constant encounters with pop-up paper monsters. The film’s creators have also released several tutorials for making your own papercraft monsters, complete with downloadable templates.

(via Laughing Squid)

Sayaka Ganz – Artist who makes sculptures from reclaimed objects. Her Emergence horses are weird and haunting.

Goth Screenshots – Tumblr of particularly moody computer messages.

Macbeth – This made me giggle.

Gothic Wedding Bouquets – A small roundup. (Man, I hate slideshows.)

Magic 1400s-1950s Reprint – An cheaper reprint of the fantastically-expensive classic is being released. BoingBoing discusses it here.

Durham University Library Sign – It’s nice that librarians have a sense of humor.

WFKU – Dark alternative internet radio station. They also have a Gothgram feature which searches for #goth in Instagram image comments and displays the results.

Lego Inferno – The 9 circles of Dante’s hell, rendered in Legos.

Arthropod Pancakes – Pancake artist(?) Nathan Shields has an entire site devoted to the elaborate pancakes he makes. Who wouldn’t want to find a tongue-eating louse on their breakfast plate?

Goth Cupcakes – I love this fabric print.