Strange New Leaf-Nosed Bat – Photo of a new species of bat found in Vietnam. I’m a big fan of bats, even the funny-looking ones, but I have to admit that I’d be less likely to snorgle this one than some other species.

Fantasy Novel Title Generator – Stumped for a title for that big, fat, derivative fantasy novel you just extruded? Have no fear! This generator pumps out surprisingly plausible titles.

Octopurse – Squeee!!!

Haunted B&Bs – Large list of (US only, sadly) bed and breakfasts that are purportedly haunted.

Thing… – A steampunk riff on “Thing” from The Addams Family. When personal household robots become a reality, I want mine to look like this.

Hair Chalking – Tutorial for adding a bit of temporary color to your hair.

Gothic Noir Magazine – Interesting-looking new goth mag. Their “official” Facebook page is here.

Floral Boots DIY – Easy method for adding fabric detailing to a pair of boots. Obviously, you could use gloomier fabric and more interesting boots.

Barnacle Ceiling Lamp – Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Demon Hunter – (First photos in gallery.) Astonishing cosplay version of a Diablo 3 demon hunter.

The fabulous Sisifo recently pointed me to this splendid photo by deviantART member Wickedweb (some photos borderline NSFW). She wasn’t sure of the substance used for the “tears,” but suggested that for costuming purposes eyelash glue mixed with matte black eyeshadow might work.

I dug around through the gallery comments and finally found one where the artist identifies the stuff as black acrylic paint, which is fine for a photograph but definitely not something you’d want to wear around your eyes for an extended period. I’m wondering if homemade fake blood using black food coloring instead of red would provide an appropriately drippy look (although ideally it’d be nice to find something that dried with that pretty glossy look instead of staying wet). It really is a wonderfully striking look, particularly paired with the silvery eyeshadow.

Be sure to check out the rest of her photos too; she’s trained as a makeup artist and has some fantastic inspiration, like lipstick styled after the patterns on poison-dart frogs.

Thanks, Sisifo!

For as much whinging as I do about the inapt use of Flash on Websites, it’s lovely to find an example of Flash being used really well.

Designer Patrick Galbraith worked with a music historian to create the Map of Metal, an enormous and detailed map that illustrates the interrelationships of various genera of metal music. You can grab the map and drag it around to view different areas, or use the navigation slider in the upper corner. Clicking on a node will display a description of the features of that particular style of music, plus a list of representative songs. Click on a song, and its video will start playing in an adjacent window.

So if you’ve ever been curious about the origins of Deaththrash or want to know how Drone Metal is related to Funeral Doom, this is the place to look. They also sell an attractive poster of the full map.

(Bonus Link: Did you know there was an Encyclopaedia Metallum? I didn’t until I saw it referenced on the Map’s “About” page. Neat.)

(Hat tip to Beth)

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

1. What fictional town is the setting of the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
   A) Santa Mira
   B) Cuesta Verde
   C) Antonio Bay
   D) Haddonfield
   E) Santa Carla
2. In the Child’s Play series, what is Chucky’s last name?
3. Who portrayed Count Orlok in the 1922 classic Nosferatu?
   A) Gustav von Wangenheim
   B) Max Schreck
   C) Alexander Granach
   D) F. W. Murnau
   E) Wolfgang Heinz
4. Who portrayed him (or rather, portrayed the actor portraying him) in the 2000 movie Shadow of the Vampire?
5. Which U.S. state was the setting for The Blair Witch Project?
   A) Virginia
   B) Pennsylvania
   C) Delaware
   D) Maryland
   E) Tennessee
6. In what film, based on a Stephen King novel, is the phrase “They’re all gonna laugh at you” repeated?
7. In The Omen, Damien’s nanny hangs herself. What is the name of the evil nanny who replaces her?
   A) Mrs. Woodhouse
   B) Mrs. Castavet
   C) Mrs. Baylock
   D) Mrs. Spencer
   E) Mrs. Spiletto
8. What giant creatures are the featured menace in the 1954 classic THEM!?
9. At the beginning of Night of the Living Dead, whose grave are Johnny and Barbra visiting?
   A) Their grandmother’s
   B) Their grandfather’s
   C) Their aunt’s
   D) Their mother’s
   E) Their father’s
10. Who played Ash in the Evil Dead series?

(Answers below the fold)

Read the rest of this entry »

Tim Burton’s 3D feature-length remake of his 1984 short film Frankenweenie is due out this October. Looks like a hoot.

Genpets – Faux-corporate site selling prepackaged bionengineered “pets.” Really rather creepy.

Skull Lace Trim – Cute skull-patterned lace edging. I’m somewhat surprised that the only source of this appears to be an Etsy shop, but a quick googling doesn’t turn up anything similar elsewhere. (Hat tip to Empress Pam)

Leeners – Interesting site specializing in starter kits for making everything from mead to vinegar.

Dexter Cake – Yum!

Blue Canary Night Light – Sits in the outlet by the light switch and watches over you.

Celebs without Eyebrows – Single-serving site featuring just what it says on the tin. Oddly unnerving, although I think it could be argued that Lady Gaga looks better. (Hat tip to Pensive Pumpkin)

Official Seal Generator – Create official-looking seals and emblems with wording and images of your choice.

4 Days and 10 Pens – Unbelievably gorgeous anatomical coat, all hand-drawn.

The Fifth Order – Some attractively surreal desktop wallpapers available for download.

Twisted Disney Princesses – Artistic riffs on Disney princesses are pretty common, but these are just wonderful. They put me in mind quite a bit of McFarlane action figures.

I saw this posted on Screamfest’s Facebook page with no attribution, which is a shame because it’s brilliant and I’d like to give proper credit to the creator.

I love the simplicity of this design; it would be fairly easy to create something similar even without mad decorating skillz. It appears that the cake has simply been covered in rolled fondant, then slits have been made in the fondant and the edges teased outward to resemble claw marks.

After the fondant sets up, red food coloring (or possibly something like raspberry syrup) can be dripped into the “wounds” and also artfully splattered onto the plain fondant. The splatters are easy to achieve by dipping a clean paintbrush or basting brush into the food coloring and then giving the bristles a hard shake several inches from the cake (be sure to protect surrounding surfaces or your kitchen will look like a murder has been commited).

You could finish this off by nestling a replica Freddy glove beside the cake. It would also be appropriate for a werewolf-themed wedding.

Come to think of it, you could also do something similar for a vampire theme, but instead of claw marks use a round wooden skewer to make pairs of bite marks all over the cake and then drip a bit of “blood” from each hole.

Anyway, relatively simple idea, splendidly executed. Props to the designer, whoever they are.

April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Sounds like an excellent excuse for a themed dinner party. (Or at least a cocktail party; you could serve gin and titonics.)

The theme could go a lot of different ways. You could have a fancy dinner or tea where everyone dresses in period costume (there are some good ideas for invitations here and here); you could take it a step further and make it a role-playing party (make your invitations look like boarding passes and assign each guest a passenger whom they’re supposed to play), or send waterlogged invitations and tell everybody to show up drowned.

Decoration will depend largely upon your theme and could range from refined Edwardian to nautical. Guests might enter on a red carpet–assuming you’re allowing them to be First Class passengers rather than the wretches in steerage–and you might also designate various rooms in your house as an observation deck, lounge bar, wheelhouse, etc. If you prefer a more disaster-y theme, you can decorate with plastic life preservers and netting and strew seashells and dried starfish around as well. Either way,an ice-sculpture centerpiece would be a nice touch.

The Titanic Historical Society sells a number of reproduction items that might be useful as decorations, and they even have a subsection devoted to themed dinner parties.

A list of the menus (First and Second Class Breakfast, Luncheon, and Dinner; Third Class Bill of Fare) on the day the ship sank is here, and an expanded discussion of the First Class dinner menu is here. There are also at least two cookbooks devoted to these menus, Last Dinner On the Titanic and RMS Titanic “Dinner Is Served”.

For authentic music, check out Music Aboard the Titanic, And the Band Played On, or Titanic: Music As Heard on the Fateful Voyage.

If you’ve been feeling the urge to dress up and have a party, this is an excellent opportunity.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a proto-X Files series from the early 70s which starred Darren McGavin as a reporter who investigated mysterious crimes with supernatural causes.*

Disney has just announced that it plans a feature film based on the series, starring Johnny Depp (who also stars in the upcoming film based on Dark Shadows; both it and Kolchak were created by Dan Curtis). And as Topless Robot puts it:

• Is it a remake of a weird and/or cult classic TV series or movie? Check.
• Is it being released by Disney, meaning it’ll be PG-13 at the most? Check.
• Is Johnny Depp going to star? Check.

Yet despite all the similarities to most of what Tim Burton has done over the past several years, somehow Burton will not be directing. That seems…almost criminal. Instead, Edgar Wright (who directed Shaun of the Dead amongst other things) has been hired both to direct and to oversee the project from the ground up.

I’m sure I’ll go see it anyway; it sounds like loads of fun. Still, such a Burton-esque project going Burtonless makes me sad.

*I recently re-watched a few of the old episodes and my primary issues were: 1) The first thing I ever saw Darren McGavin in was A Christmas Story, and it’s VERY hard to get past that and see him as a hard-bitten reporter fighting horrible supernatural creatures. 2) I kept being overcome with waves of early-70s nostalgia. (“They’re using flash cubes! I remember flash cubes!”) So you see.

Sound of Drowning did a comic which envisions The Wicker Man as performed by the Muppets (“Bad puns, paganism, and the smell of burning felt”). And then they did a video trailer to promote it.

I would pay almost any amount to see a feature-length film of this.

(via Topless Robot))