Rick loves horror movies. Not content to just hang a couple of posters in his bedroom, he’s tattooing his entire body to look like a rotting zombie.

He’s about halfway done, with 24 hours’ worth of inking and about $8,000 sunk into the project. Bizarre Magazine features an interview with him with lots more pictures. According to the interview, turning himself into a corpse has been a positive experience for him.

Note: There’s nothing NSFW in the article, but some company firewalls flag the Bizarre site as pornography. You have been warned.

Link (via BoingBoing)

Design Toscano offers a variety of unique statues and decorative items, and they’ve just released a garden sculpture that’s right up our alley.

Their “Zombie of Montclaire Moors” is a life-sized undead guy who appears to be clawing his way out of your lawn.

He appears to be a little clean-cut for a zombie, but this sure beats the heck out of a garden gnome.

Link (via BoingBoing)

The Crafty Chica has instructions for making these cute bath fizzy “cupcakes.” These would be adorable with black or scarlet icing and little sugar skulls on top.

A couple of notes:

• Her recipe calls for grapeseed oil, but any skin-soothing oil will work (we use sweet almond oil in our skull fizzies).
• I’m not sure about the whole meringue-frosting thing; I’d be tempted to use something like a tub truffle mixture instead.
• If you don’t have a silicon cupcake mold handy, stack a few foil or paper cupcake liners together for extra stiffness. I think I’d prefer to leave the liner on anyway, for decoration. (Use spooky ones like this or this.)
• Be really, really careful about moisture. The fizziness is activated when the baking soda can interact freely with the citric acid. Too much moisture in the mixing stage will leave you with a bubbly mess. Likewise, make sure you store these in a dry place.

Individual fizzies would make unusual party favors, and a set of four in a nice cupcake box would be a lovely hostesss gift. They’re fast and easy to make, so do give them a try.

Link (via The Felt Mouse)

Shadow Manor just started carrying these and they’re sufficiently unusual that I wanted to share.

These are “souvenir” fangs from some vampire slayer’s successful hunting expedition. A pair of real teeth in a collecting vial, complete with a tag listing the date and location they were, um, collected.

The tag can be customized with the species, location, and date, so if you’d prefer that these were werewolf, troll, or demon fangs, you have only to ask. This would be an unusual accessory for a desk or bookshelf. Or just pull it out of your pocket the next time you go clubbing and regale your friends with the story of how you acquired your souvenir….

Link

Electronic Arts is promoting the release of its new game Dead Space by giving away a collection of 100 science fiction and horror DVDs. The list of movies is fairly eclectic, although it appears to be weighted slightly toward dystopian futures and slasher flicks.

To enter the sweepstakes, you need only sign up for their newsletter.

Link (via SF Signal)

What would happen if Buffy the Vampire Slayer got married, moved to the suburbs and became a stay-at-home mom? That’s the plot of the Carpe Demon series of books by Julie Kenner. Sequels include California Demon and Demons are Forever. Har har har.

This is a rather strange mix of “vampire slayer” and “mommy lit”–I didn’t realize that the intersection between Buffy fans and soccer moms was sufficiently great to market a whole series of books toward them– but the books have pretty decent reviews and look like fun.

If you’re looking for a beach read (assuming you don’t burst into flames in the sunlight), these would probably be an excellent choice.

(via Memarie Lane)

A Fanciful Twist–who, from the number of exclamation points on her blog, probably takes amphetamines to calm down–recently threw a “Mad Tea Party” costume extravaganza. She made all manner of paper and scrap fabric decorations, and the resulting carnival atmosphere is simply amazing.

This would be a fun party theme, whether or not you choose to do something as elaborate. eHow has a list of suggestions for planning a Mad Tea Party, and this shop offers a selection of Alice-themed party supplies (some are rather cutesy; beware). Obviously, you can always look to the books for additional inspiration.

I like tea parties because you can serve lots of little nibbly foods, many of which can be made in advance or purchased. You don’t have to worry about keeping dishes hot, and guests can select whatever bits suit them.

You can extend the drink theme beyond mere tea, of course. Years ago when I worked for Disney, I gave some of my more favored co-workers bottles of homemade cranberry cordial with fancy “Drink Me” tags. Any sort of unusual tipple–orange wine, apricot ratafia, and so on–would be a good choice for a similar presentation.

Dress up in a top hat or pinafore (or, um, both, I guess) and enjoy yourself!

Most of the people who run around like chickens with their heads cut off fail to consider the blood.
—tinylittledivision

Check out Defective Yeti’s Microwave. I wonder if mine has a similar feature.

Sweet Christ, I’m glad there’s no such thing as 1-Click Strangling.
— Remiel

Stitch Bitch notes an omission.

Create Your Own Blog Award – Award the blog of your choice an Irritable Panda Bear or a Flesh-Eating Rash.

The Surrealist Compliment Generator – You are more beautiful than a bouquet of fossils.

The Dysfunctional Family Circus: Read about it here and see the current archive here.

When I’m frustrated I do Kegels. I may look calm but know this, if it comes to blows I’ll have a really interesting way to break your hands.
— AinsleyofAttack

A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet. Or a psycho who hasn’t killed you yet. It’s hard to tell with strangers.
—tinylittledivision

(Hat tip to Herding Kittens)

Despite sounding like a Romanian sneeze, Blavod is actually a deep-black vodka from the UK. It’s colored with the extract of a Burmese tree called Black Catechu, which the company says does not affect the flavor. I’ve run across several reviews which say that the vodka actually has an “herby-medicinal aftertaste,” however, so you might take that into consideration when choosing a mixer.

Doesn’t matter. It’s pure black vodka. How can we not love it?

Obviously, the best way to show this off when serving as a mixed drink is to float the vodka so that it forms a separate layer.

1. Figure out the density of each ingredient; the denser liquids go on the bottom (The Webtender has a specific gravity chart, if you need some help.)
2. Pour the heaviest ingredient in the bottom of the glass.
3. If you’re going to add ice, do it now. Putting it in later will destroy your layers.
4. Place a teaspoon upside down close to the surface of the drink, with the edge of the spoon against the edge of the glass.
5. Very slowly pour the next-heaviest ingredient over the back of the spoon, just letting it trickle in. Raise the spoon slowly if necessary.
6. Repeat with each ingredient, ending with the least dense.

Incidentally, this is a lot easier to do if you use a plastic syringe instead of a teaspoon: Just suck up the necessary amount, place the tip of the syringe on the inside of the glass, and slowly push the plunger. You’ll want a needle with a fairly large bore; the syringes used for injecting marinades into meat work pretty well.

Here are a few easy recipes to get you started:

Read the rest of this entry »

Half Meme Press creates odd little role-playing games with names like Acts of Evil, Bacchanal, and The Valedictorian’s Death. Their most recent is My Life with Master, in which you play the minion of, um, a master.

Imagine a gothic countryside burg, like the quite Bavarian steppes where Victor Frankenstein might have lived, or the brambly swamps of Dracula’s castle. We’re talking Eastern Europe before communism, when science was just kissing the brittle lips of superstition and stable poverty. The game begins by the group collectively designing a “Master”, the otherworldly antagonist who dwells in some archetypal castle or haunted house or ancient catacomb. This master has some kind of M.O. – discovering the secret of eternal life, rejuvenation, astral projection, or maybe just a nice skin suit, get creative. Then the players design their characters, minions of this master, complete with a tragic flaw and constrained power. Then the real game begins.

I like the idea of a game that lets me unleash my inner psychopath.

Here’s Play This Thing’s review of the game. You can buy it in downloadable or dead-tree form at the Half Meme Press site.

(via BoingBoing)