(From The Far Left Side)

Whatever winter holiday you celebrate, I hope it’s fabulous.

Van Essie – “Rogue taxidermist” who incorporates bits of dead things into fantastical, creepy sculptures. This one just wigs me right out.

The Beautiful and the Damned – Coffee table book of photographs featuring iconic punk rockers.

How to Create an Antique Mirror Effect – Great tutorial for bestowing spooky vintage character on a modern mirror.

Skull Fairisle Cardigan – The rather prim styling makes a nice juxtaposition with the skulls. It looks like something a librarian in Transylvania would wear. (Hat tip to Empress Pam)

Barbie Zombies – A whole gardenful of thrifted Barbies-turned-zombie.

Aleister Crowley’s Rice Recipe – Make rice like Mr. Golden Dawn himself. (I keep getting distracted by his inability to spell “colander.”)

SpookyGrrrl – Etsy seller specializing in gothy bath products such as glycerin soap skulls and bats.

Chinese Matchbook Monsters – Chris Sims found a bunch of Chinese matchbooks with traditional monster illustrations, but no description of what the monsters were supposed to be. So he made up his own. I can’t imagine the real descriptions are as wonderful.

Tiny Crochet Pumpkin – Pattern and tutorial for an adorable, wee pumpkin.

Long-Forgotten – Blog devoted to Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Some nice detail stuff.

Vampire Dinner Party – Some great ideas from Hostess with the Mostess. (Hit their Halloween tag for loads of other wonderful suggestions.)

Flip – Restaurant which specializes in high-end burgers. I mention it here entirely because of one menu item they offer, a milkshake made of foie gras and chocolate that they call–I swear to god–Offaltine.

BobT is a somewhat…emphatic fan of Slayer in Southern California,* so he did the logical thing and decorated his house with lights that synchronize to Slayer’s Raining Blood. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t epic.

(via BoingBoing)

p.s. – The Great Galactic Ghoul managed to eat my e-mails about the Secret Santa Can Suck It exchange twice, so the “gift list” will be posted next Monday instead.

*Author Calvin Trillin once remarked after seeing a man blowing watermelon-sized bubbles on Venice Beach that people in Southern California tend to become very, very good at completely pointless things. As a SoCA native, I sort of have to agree.

You may already be familiar with Cleolinda of Occupation: Girl from her Secret Life of Dolls or Movies in Fifteen Minutes. She’s got a new project, and it is quite wonderful: She is reading the entire 667,000-word monstrosity that is Varney the Vampyre, so we don’t have to.

She is, additionally, commenting liberally, and it is hilarious.

Blessedly, Flora’s mother faints at this point, so that everyone can shut the hell up and chase the damn thing. And then we (eventually) get to the first part of the book that nearly made me cry laughing.

They looked in the direction he indicated. At the end of this vista was the wall of the garden. At that point it was full twelve feet in height, and as they looked, they saw the hideous, monstrous form they had traced from the chamber of their sister, making frantic efforts to clear the obstacle.

They saw it bound from the ground to the top of the wall, which it very nearly reached, and then each time it fell back again into the garden with such a dull, heavy sound, that the earth seemed to shake again with the concussion. They trembled — well indeed they might, and for some minutes they watched the figure making its fruitless efforts to leave the place.

I don’t know why Varney can’t get over the wall. It’s not, like, a holy garlic wall or anything. All I know is, I nearly fell out of my chair at the image of this poor vampire desperately trying to jump over it, perhaps with a sad little grunt, and then falling on its ass… over and over and over.

And then (several paragraphs of discussion later), Henry shoots the vampyre again, and Varney tumbles over the wall with a pitiful howl. You guys, I’m just sad now.

She’s posting the whole thing in segments, all for free (although she’d be grateful for a tip). Part 1 is here, and you can see all entries here. A Class 2 Beverage Alert is in effect throughout.

In yet another example of a spinoff being cooler than the actual franchise, DeviantArt member spicysteweddemon has created a whole set of space opera-esque Harry Potter characters, including Overlord Voldemort, General Lucius Malfoy of the Slytherin Alliance, and Captain Harold J. Potter of the ISS Griffin. The various characters’ costumes and titles hint at an interesting backstory.

I particularly like their combination futuristic-looking wand/retro raygun, and I think I prefer this version of Voldemort to the real one.

There’s some great inspiration for Masquerade costumes (not to mention fanfic).

(via Super Punch)

Well, the example is a zombie, but I think it just screams “voodoo doll.”

Art Threads has a nicely detailed tutorial for making three different pincushions from felt, including a ragged zombie with rudely-stitched wounds. Felt is great for making small items like this because you don’t have to worry about trying to turn it right-side-out after sewing; since the edges don’t fray, you can just top-stitch the whole thing and leave it right-side-out to begin with.

The tutorial has lots of cute (“cute” being a relatively term where zombies are concerned) suggestions for adding a little character to your creation; I love his itty-bitty turned-down collar and leaking brains.

You could use the basic pattern and instructions and turn out a range of creatures by changing the surface details. It would also be fun to stitch a loop of ribbon to their heads and use them as Christmas ornaments.

(via CRAFT)

This makes me really, really happy.

Cross-Stitched Skulls – These are very detailed and gorgeous. I’d love to see a pattern made available.

The Blinkybug Kit – Simple kit for making electronic insects; suitable for kids.

Melting Snowman Cookies – These are hilarious. Traumatize small children today!

Potion Jars – Adorable little prop jars made of old pill bottles covered with polymer clay.

Hipster Hitler – A webcomic whose name describes exactly what it’s about. I…um…yeah.

Crocheted Owl Pellet – I love the little animal bones.

Sleeping Bag Creature – Cute idea for recycling a blanket into a child’s sleeping bag.

Kill Vampire Lincoln – Wil Wheaton name-checked this production company, and I have to admit that I sort of love the T-shirt.

The Louisiana Swamp Monster – This is a hoax, and Forgetomori does a fine job of describing why. I’m linking to it because the picture is creepy as hell.

Istvan Laszlo – Artist who specializes in drawing famous peoples’ skulls. Because why not.

Rudolph (You Don’t Have To Put On The Red Light) – A rather excellent mashup, particularly if you’re old enough to remember the original Rankin-Bass Rudolph.

Skeleton – Dog carefully groomed and dyed to look like an anatomical model of itself.

The matches for our Secret Santa Can Suck It exchange have been made and sent to their assignees. After everyone posts about their “gift,” I’ll list all of the entries to peruse. To kick things off, here’s mine.

My recipient was the inestimable xJane, and a gift for someone who has been known to exclaim, “ZOMEGs [zee oh my elder gods]” is pretty obvious.

xJane’s gift is a Cthulhu makeover!

She can go out for a dark night on the town in this Tentacle Dress paired with “Nightswimming” Heels.

This Steampunk Cthulhu Necklace will be lovely with Tentacle Earrings made from real octopi, and this Vintage Chatelaine Purse festooned with all kinds of mythical sea creatures will complete the ensemble.

Of course she’ll have to wear Dagon Eyeshadow, Lovecraft Lipstick, and Cthulhu in Love Perfume.

Cthulhu fhtagn, xJane! I hope you enjoy it!

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to sign up for the Secret Santa Can Suck It virtual gift exchange. Matches will be made tonight and sent out by tomorrow morning.

C’mon, join in! It’ll be fun!

Update: The matches have been made and participants have been notified. Watch this space for the results!