Artist Kevin Weir takes vintage photographs and gives them a Monty-Python-by-way-of-Twilight-Zone makeover. Some are funny; some are remarkably creepy. The animation is really well done, and there’s a definite frisson of anticipation, staring at each photo and wondering what’s going to happen. The site is fairly scanty at the moment, but I’m looking forward to watching it grow. Good stuff.
(No prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.)
Robert Smith composed and recorded which studio album with Siouxsie and the Banshees?
A) Join Hands
B) Kaleidoscope
C) Hyæna
D) Peepshow
E) Tinderbox
What breed of dog is Cujo?
What well-known musician released the influential goth-tinged album “Low” in 1977?
This anonymous vampire story, translated from German, appeared in the English magazine Odds and Ends in 1860. It is credited with introducing the trope of a learned individual who advises the protagonists on how to defeat vampires, a convention which eventually led to the character of Van Helsing in Dracula.
A) The Mysterious Stranger
B) The Giaour
C) The Tomb of Sarah
D) The Dark Castle
E) The Fate of Madame Cabanel
What movie has Beetlejuice seen 167 times (“and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!”)?
This novel is widely considered to be the first “true” Gothic romance, and in its first edition it was represented as an actual Medieval romance, discovered and republished by a fictitious translator.
The Sisters of Mercy do a cover of which Rolling Stones song on their “Some Girls Wander By Mistake” compilation?
A) Sympathy for the Devil
B) Fortune Teller
C) Paint it Black
D) Gimme Shelter
E) Shattered
This story of a Faustian deal involving a portrait is Oscar Wilde’s only published novel.
This collection of short stories was inspired by a filk song of the same name. Whose ghost is haunting Space Station Three?
A) Buddy Holly
B) Carmen Miranda
C) Elvis
D) Winston Churchill
E) Don Juan
The idea for this zombie rom-com starring Simon Pegg originally came from a skit in Pegg’s comedy Spaced, in which a character plays a marathon session of Resident Evil and then hallucinates a zombie apocalypse.
I ran into these cute “pumpkin rump” pettipants at Gloomth several months ago, but they’re a seasonal item so are unavailable until next October. If you simply can’t wait until then, something similar–albeit not quite as fancy–can be knocked together in a couple of hours.
Loose elastic-waist pants are a snap to sew, pretty much consisting of three seams: Sew each leg and then sew the legs together. You can find suitable patterns in pajamas or sportswear, or you can skip the pattern entirely and just look for tutorials on how to make your own tap pants, bloomers, or pettipants. I used the pants from a pirate costume because I happened to have the pattern lying around. (I suppose you could also get fancy and use a historically accurate pattern, but that seems entirely too much like work.)
I used an inexpensive cotton fabric for a rather lightweight, airy result. You can use silk, satin, or whatever other fabric appeals to you (I wouldn’t use anything too heavy, such as denim, but you could probably get away with velvet or brocade if you really wanted to). I also decided to make the bloomers a bit longer than knee length and add elastic to the legs so they could be hiked up to whatever length was desired.
Croak Skull Illusion Scarf – Free knitting pattern with a subtle skull inclusion. The site requires registration, but you can use BugMeNot if you don’t wanna. (Hat tip to Janice)
Corset Cookies – These prettily-iced cookies would be great for a tea party. You can get the cookie cutter here.
Tim Flach’s Fruit Bats – Gorgeous portrait-style photos of fruit bats. (Sorry about the Facebook link; the artist also has a Website, but it’s all Flash and impossible to navigate.) He apparently also sells prints.
Amazing Illustrations on Skin – Some phenomenally-detailed tattoos. The eye on the back of the neck creeps me right out.
Bats! Meow – “Alternative fashions for alternative kids.”
Telecalculograph – Flickr set of a neat steampunk computer casemod, complete with smokestack.
Fandom Secrets – Postsecret-esque site which allows fans to submit their deepest secrets about actually hating Tim Burton’s films or wanting to become one of Warren Ellis’ harem girls.
Evil Owl – This is much funnier than it ought to be. (Hat tip to Cat)
Dearly Departed Tours – Hollywood guided tour of “celebrity death, scandal, and murder.”
They have a whole range of Lovecraft-themed lollipops, in shapes ranging from the Necronomicon to Nyarlathotep (he’s raspberry-flavored, in case anyone was wondering). Their Chocolate Skulls come in four varieties, including “Spicy Xocolatl,” and although they aren’t quite life-size they’re about the size of a baseball and surprisingly inexpensive.
The one that really blows my mind, though, is their Edible Vampire Hunter Kit, which includes hard-candy bottles of holy water and holy oil, a fabulously-detailed miniature chocolate bible, a dark chocolate crucifix, white chocolate garlic, and three milk chocolate wooden stakes. Yowza.
I can’t find anything on their site about whether they ship internationally or not, but for folks in the U.S. there’s still time to order before Easter. (If you don’t think an Easter basket filled with candy Shoggoths wouldn’t be hilarious, you may be on the wrong blog.)
I don’t have a train of thought so much as I have a bumper-car of impulse.
— AinsleyofAttack
The only reason I’m nice to people is so one day when the news interviews them about me, they’ll say “I’m shocked, he was such a nice guy.”
— Coastiefish
My Make-A-Wish wish would be to fire an assault rifle while Black Francis stands next to me, screaming.
— BarrettChase
It would be fun to replace every EXIT sign in the world with ones that said ESCAPE. Also, they flicker ominously.
— robdelaney
This Halloween I’m going to scare neighborhood children by jumping out from the bushes and explaining the college loan process to them.
— hipstermermaid
It’s tragic that we’ll never know how annoying Oscar Wilde would have been on Twitter.
— JoshMalina
I imagine the Zombie Apocalypse will feel exactly like Monday mornings.
— Paxochka
Every office has a Saruman and a Grima Wormtongue.
— thesulk
Guy yelling, wearing dress shirt and slacks: I’m looking to kill about 14 or 15 vampires today. If anyone could help me out and point me in the direction of a vampire lair, I could probably kill 8 or 9 there. Thank you.
— Overheard in New York
Say what you will about the Father of Lies–he always showed up to Lies’ T-ball games.
— StephenAtHome
I stuck this in my Drafts folder back in December and promptly forgot all about it (my mind is like a steel trap…that’s been pried open and left to rust). Since we’ve just hit spring around these parts, this one is for all you Southern Hemisphere folks. Everybody else can, um, keep it in mind for next winter. Or something.
It’s hot chocolate on a stick that turns blood-red when it melts. I’m really rather pleased with it.
The basic idea is cribbed from 30 Pounds of Apples, who has lots of lovely photos of each step in the process. My changes to the recipe and method are as follows:
Ingredients
1 lb milk chocolate (not chips, which contain stabilizers to keep them from melting as easily), chopped
I ran into 
If Willy Wonka ever decided to set up shop in Hell, I’m fairly sure the result would be something like 