(No prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.)
Most Bella Morte concerts feature a cover of what popular love song?
A) The Power of Love
B) Eternal Flame
C) Only You
D) Kiss From a Rose
E) My Heart Will Go On
In this 2002 video game-inspired flick starring Milla Jovovich, a virus has escaped in a secret facility called The Hive, turning the staff into hungry zombies and releasing the mutated lab “Animals” that they were studying.
“The Bride of Corinth” is a macabre tale of a young woman who returns from the grave to find a husband. Who wrote this classically-inspired poem?
A) William Wordsworth
B) Edgar Allan Poe
C) Charles Baudelaire
D) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
E) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What is the name of Neville Longbottom’s pet toad?
The name of Lon Chaney, Jr.’s character in the 1941 movie The Wolf Man has become a sort of in-joke in movies and TV, often applied to someone with werewolfish tendencies. What is it?
A) Daniel Niemann
B) Larry Talbot
C) Wilbur Grey
D) Tony Conliffe
E) Frank Mannering
The word “poltergeist” is German, and literally means what?
Before forming The Cult with Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy played guitar for which band?
A) Theatre of Hate
B) Flesh for Lulu
C) The Cramps
D) Adam And The Ants
E)The Bolshoi
This line is from what movie? “I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes, the Devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.” (Bonus point if you can name the character who said it.)
The Kitsune is a magical Japanese creature which is technically a were-human, since its normal form is that of an animal. What kind of animal is it?
A) Badger
B) Horse
C) Fox
D) Cat
E) Owl
This gorgeous image (cropped here to emphasize the headpiece) is Dien: Halloween Beauty, by deviantART member zairia. In the comments she simply calls this a “Halloween beauty shot,” but this would be an amazing accessory for a Halloween wedding (I love the makeup, too).
The spider’s body appears to be made of feathers, and a bit of googling seems to indicate that it might be this decoration by Bethany Lowe. The legs on the headpiece look sparkly rather than matte black; I’m not sure if they were dusted with glitter or if that’s just an artifact of the photography. You could use any similar-sized prop spider, or could make something reasonably similar by covering a styrofoam hemisphere with feathers and using bumpy chenille stems for the legs.
The rest of the veil appears to just be massed grey tulle. It’s hard to tell in the photo how it’s attached to her head–it may just be hairpinned in place–but you could attach everything to a fascinator base to make sure everything stays secure.
It’s a fantastic look, and undeniably dramatic.
Be sure to check out the rest of zairia’s gallery too; she’s got loads of great photos.
Tentacle Dildo – NSFW! NSFW! NSFW! The shop also has, um, gnome-shaped ones. Handmade in the USA, for all your handmade dildo needs. (Hat tip to Pensive Pumpkin)
There are all kinds of Olympic-inspired arts and crafts buzzing around the Web right now, including these lemony Olympic Torch Cupcakes over at Stasy.com.
Even if you’re less-than-enthralled by the Olympics, the same general idea could easily be turned to darker ends.* The “torches” could be used as-is for a Game of Thrones viewing party or similar event. The sugar shards could also be used as flames around regular cupcakes to make “witch’s cauldrons:” Ice the sides with black and the tops with green, and decorate the tops with gummi worms or other “brew” ingredients.
It might also be fun to bake the cupcakes in an egg-shaped pan and then use the yellow icing and sugar flames to make Harry Potter-esque “phoenix eggs.”
Everybody brace yourselves. This is one of those projects that could be just wonderful, and also has the potential to be spectacularly bad.
The NY Times reports that NBC is working on a Dracula miniseries with Jonathan Rhys Meyers of The Tudors as ol’ Drac. A network exec was quoted as saying that they’re “going to bring a little ‘Tudors’ sensibility to ‘Dracula,’ with no comment on what that particular sensibility might be. (Since it’s a TV network rather than cable, I assume the answer is not “boobies.”)
This version will be set in 1890s London, with the count “transformed into an American businessman interested in bringing modern science to Victorian society.” Whatever the hell that means.
I…dunno. Network television is quite a bit more constrained in what it’s allowed to get away with in terms of violence and other “adult themes,” so right out of the gates the project is going to be somewhat more, um, defanged than it might have been. I’m also questioning what sounds an awful lot like the forced insertion of steampunk into the plotline.
On the other hand, it’s not zombies. That’s refreshing.
There’s currently no release date for the miniseries.
I ran across this splendid, betentacled dining-room set the other day, and originally assumed that it was from some offbeat furniture gallery. After a bit of digging around, I discovered that it’s actually the work of artist Christen Shaw; there are a couple of other views in her Flickr stream.
Shaw’s designs are all hand-painted, but for those of us whose painting skills fall somewhere between “primitive” and “kindergarten,” something similar might be achieved using stencils. In particular, the monochromatic ouija board and the clean lines of the tentacles should lend themselves well to this process.
You can create the design you want in a computer graphics program, then print it out (a copy shop such as Kinko’s can print large designs that a home printer can’t handle) and turn it into a stencil. If you’ve never stenciled furniture before, there are loads of tutorials to get you started: This one from TLC provides a good overview of the whole process, and Royal Design Studio has some addtional useful tips.
Stenciling or painting is a great way to add character to bland, inexpensive furniture, and it can also breathe life into old pieces that you’re tired of looking at. Delicate spiderwebs, folk-art skulls, and other spooky accents are easy to do and are a lovely way to bring your own personal style to a room.
p.s. – Shaw also designs tattoos, so if you’re looking for something really unique you might check what she charges for commissions.
I’ve run into paperback-cover wallets elsewhere, but they’re always just the length of the cover and thus don’t have a lot of capacity. I came up with a different method which extends the wallet into a trifold with lots of storage space, plus it shows off more of the cover even when folded. Now you can turn your favorite spooky paperback cover into a functional wallet.
The Adorable Knight Rises – Collection of baby bat photos and videos at Buzzfeed. You will squee yourself silly.
Nightmare Before Christmas Yard Decor – Some fantastic homemade Christmas/Halloween decorations, including some build notes. I particularly love the “Zero” doghouse.
Va-Va-Voom Vintage – Collectors Weekly interviewed Dita von Teese on some of the more interesting items she collects.
Raindrops on Spiders – Macrophotography gallery of rained-upon spiders. If you’re like me, you will now be substituting the lyrics, “Raindrops on spiders and whiskers on kittens…” from now on. (Hat tip to pdq)
It’s time to start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation! (Actually, I start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation on November 1, but that may just be me.)
Over at the Halloween Drinks blog, Scott believes he’s perfected the art of homemade pumpkin liqueur. I might question his use of canned pumpkin pie mix instead of plain canned pumpkin because the latter would give you more control over the spices, but it looks like he’s put a whoooole lot of experimentation into the project.
The liqueur takes three weeks to mature, so plan ahead. (If you’re really in a hurry, he’s also got a one-hour version which would be perfect as a last-minute hostess gift.)
There are plenty of other variations out there, including ones that use pumpkin juice* and roasted pumpkin, so there’s plenty of room for additional experimentation. Once you find a variation you like, google “pumpkin cocktail” to find plenty of drinks which feature the liqueur.
I really like Scott’s bottling idea, with custom-printed labels and novelty stoppers, but there are a zillion other packaging options. One nice presentation would be a recycled wine bottle decorated with a pumpkin bottle collar. You could also paint or etch a bottle with a motif of your choice, or glue ribbons on the outside.
There are all kinds of Olympic-inspired arts and crafts buzzing around the Web right now, including these lemony 
Everybody brace yourselves. This is one of those projects that could be just wonderful, and also has the potential to be spectacularly bad.
I ran across this splendid, betentacled dining-room set the other day, and originally assumed that it was from some offbeat furniture gallery. After a bit of digging around, I discovered that it’s actually the work of artist 
It’s time to start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation! (Actually, I start thinking about pre-Halloween preparation on November 1, but that may just be me.)