In this thoughtful short film, a boy encounters a strange creature and tries to find it a home.

(via The Presurfer)

The Venus of Innsmouth – Great, subtle “artifact” that would be an interesting detail in an RPG.

The Problem with Vintage Magic Posters – Interesting article about collecting vintage posters which advertised magicians’ acts.

5 Horror Villains Who Aren’t as Bad as They Seem – Cracked tries to make the argument that some horror movie villains have understandable motives. Which still doesn’t make their victims any less dead.

The New Devil’s Dictionary – Bierce updated for the modern age.

Little Creations – Etsy shop specializing in Amigurumi adorableness. I love this dragon.

Dracula’s Dentures – These cookies are edging into “more trouble than they’re worth” territory, but they’d be cute for a vampire-themed party. (Hat tip to xJane)

Marauder’s Map Coffee Mug – Color-changing mug that reveals the Marauder’s Map when hot liquid is added.

Secret of Qwerty – Game designed to resemble an old-time RPG where you fight mean trees and ghosts and stuff by typing at them. You start the game at Homerow Castle.

Top 10 Medieval Butt-Licking Cats – The list you didn’t even know you needed.

Aurora Jungle-Juice – This cocktail is one color in normal light and another under black light. I believe the photo is ‘shopped, but it’d be a fun party drink anyway.

The Secret Pumpkin gift exchange was conceived as a way to soothe those spooky souls pining for October by sending them a little Halloween in April. It’s similar to a Secret Santa exchange but the gifts are supposed to be spooky in nature; you can read my previous description and details here.

And now it’s time to open up registration for next April’s exchange! If you’d like to participate, go to the Secret Pumpkin site:

1) If you did not participate last year, click the “Join” link and fill out the form.

2) If you DID participate last year, log in, click the “Update Profile” link and change the “Activate My Membership” option to Yes.

(Just in case it isn’t clear–folks have been confused in the past–I’m the person who manages the site, so you aren’t blindly submitting your mailing address to some anonymous stranger.)

I’d previously suggested that participants should join one of the two Halloween listservs which originally spawned the exchange, but they’ve withered away so much that they may actually be defunct; instead I send occasional reminders directly to the participants.

You can sign up even if you aren’t in the U.S., and if you encourage friends from the same country to participate you don’t have to worry about exorbitant shipping. My script matches people in the same country preferentially, and at the end of the signup period I’ll let you know if you’re the only one in your country so you can decide whether or not to participate.

The deadline for signups is October 15. All that I ask is please, PLEASE don’t sign up for the exchange unless you’re serious about following through. We occasionally have participants flake out, and their Pumpkins are always sorely disappointed.

C’mon and join! It’s lots of fun, and getting something unexpectedly Halloweeny in April is a treat.

Here’s a fast, easy gift idea that has the added advantage of letting you use up leftover scraps of fabric: Hot pads and mug mats which give off a spicy autumnal scent when something hot is placed on top.

The fabric you use should be closely woven so bits of spice don’t fall out, and made of some material that won’t melt or discolor when exposed to heat (100% cotton is best).

For the spice mixture:

• 1 C small cinnamon chips (if you can’t obtain these, put cinnamon sticks in a bag and whack them with a rolling pin or other heavy object to break them up)
• 1 C anise seed
• 1 C whole cloves
• 1 C nutmeg pieces (these can be broken up the same way as the cinnamon, but nutmegs are pretty hard so you may need to use a hammer)
• 1 C allspice berries
• 1 C rosemary needles

For each mug mat you will need two squares of 5″x5″ fabric. Place right sides together and stitch sides with a 1/4″ seam, leaving an open space in the middle of one side for turning. Turn right-side out and press. Fill with spice mixture to about 1/2″ thick. Turn in the raw edges and top-stitch the opening. Package four mats together, tied with pretty ribbon, and tuck a cinnamon stick under the ribbon.

(For a fancier version of the mug mats, try The Road to Crazy’s reverse applique tutorial, which produced the cute little Frankenstein cupcake in the photo above.)

For a hot pad, you will need two squares of 8″x8″ fabric. Place right sides together and stitch three sides with a 1/2″ seam, then stitch the corners of the fourth side but leave the rest of the edge open. Turn right-side out and press. Turn in the raw edges on the fourth side 1/2″ and press. Stitch three parallel lines down the square, creating four tunnels of equal width. Fill the tunnels with the spice mixture to at least 1″ thick. Top-stitch the opening.

You can vary the spice mixture as desired, omitting some and adding others. Bits of dried citrus peel are nice, as are lavender flowers or strong-scented herbs. It’s easy to make up a large batch of the mixture and sew lots of hot pads as stocking stuffers or last-minute hostess gifts. If you plan to make the pads well in advance, store them in a plastic bag to keep their scent strong.

It’s time for another bunch of random stuff I want to share but can’t hang a whole post on. Some of them have no attribution, so if you happen to know the source for any of these please leave a note in the comments. (Click to view larger.)

	Succulent Skull This skull kinda looks like it might be designed to be a flowerpot, rather than just being a repurposed prop, but if you’ve got a prop skull lying around it should work fine. I really like the selection of succulents. I’m not entirely sure about the source since most of the image lookup results are from Pinterest (you guys, I hate Pinterest so, so much. I am sure that “obfuscate original sources” is a core part of their business plan), but a couple of those seem to point back to Frolicing [sic] in the Forest so let’s pretend it’s from there.
	Hocus Pocus Nails I really like the use of glow-in-the-dark paint in this manicure. This design is by PiggieLuv, and there are a number of other neat Halloween ideas on the site; this spider and web design would be a little unwieldy, but it’s really striking.
	Tentacle Flatware This sea life dining set by Perry Gargano is a mere $240 per place setting. And, sure, if you want to get technical about it, the curve on the handles would probably make these things a pain to actually use, but you can’t beat ’em for style.
	Laundry Starch Ghosts This is one of HGTV’s Halloween tips (the slideshow format is annoying, but there are some other cute ideas if you feel like clicking through ’em). I have doubts about whether it’d be possible to get these detached from their forms cleanly–maybe if you used balloons and then popped them–but they’re pretty cute.
	Jewelry Rack Posted on imgur by IndustrialStapler. This would be easy to DIY; you could also use it to hold keys.
	Octopus Chair This design is apparently by Wendy Olsen. Makes me wish I were better with fabric paint.
	Poe Pumpkins This is an idea from Country Living; it’d be fairly simple to pull off with stencils, and it’s a nicely elegant look.
	Bond Ring This just made me giggle. (via Tanya)
	Monster Shoe There are a couple of additional photos on Craftster. I’m not sure how easy it’d be to cover a pump with fake fur, but these are pretty cute.
	Spiderweb Photo Album This is an embroidered cover for a photo album. It’s a fairly easy design, and if you can’t find a fabric-covered photo album you could use paint or sequins instead.
	Photo Tombstones These are from the exit queue in Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor. If you decorate your yard for Halloween, a set of “family portrait” tombstones like these would be a great addition to your graveyard. It’d also be fun to get a set of miniature foam tabletop tombstones (like these; you can usually find them at party stores around Halloween) and use wallet-size photos to make a little “‘Til Death Do Us Part” photo frame.

…and more’s the pity.

Shadow Jack, who sent me this gem, said:

I had seen the Bauhaus video for this song a while back, but I think I like this Nouvelle Vague version better. Breathy female vocals and all original footage, including what might be the only appearance of armadillos in a music video.

It’s pretty awesome, although, given the popularity of country music, I doubt it’s the only appearance of armadillos in a music video.

Thank you for your kind indulgence. Regular posting and once-a-week link dumps will return on Monday.

Halloween Craft Roundup – Several cute projects; I particularly like the crocheted spiderweb corbels.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows – Suggestions for words which describe hard-to-explain feelings like vellichor (“the strange wistfulness of used bookstores”) and rubatosis (“the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat”).

Plush Narwhal Tutorial – Narwhals, narwhals, swimming in the ocean, causing a commotion, because they are so awesome. Now that I have that song stuck in your head, go look at the pod of plush narwhals because they are really cute.

Free Antique Illustrations – The British Library has released over a million images from its collection online for free. (Bonus link: BoingBoing mentions the project and includes a glorious assemblage of covers from vintage “adventure” magazines. I think my favorite bit is that the “weasel attack” victim looks startlingly like David Bowie.)

Sticky Page Markers – Sets of stickers for marking book pages that let you create scenes of Godzilla attacking Tokyo, aliens in a Martian landscape, and Nessie undulating in and out of the water.

Skeleton Cupcakes – I’m leery of complex edible cupcake toppers, but these skeletons made from yogurt-covered pretzels and marshmallows look reasonably straightforward. The related bag of bones snacks are even easier.

Victorian Trading Company – Their Halloween section has lots of good-looking Halloween home decor items. (Hat tip to Kathy)

Magical Unicorn Champagne Horn – Plastic drinking “horn” and base.

8 Horrifying Moments From Classic Kids Cartoons – The people who complain about inappropriate content in today’s cartoons never lived through the 30s.

JIMBOBART – Etsy shop with the tagline, “Drawer of things on things” which specializes in weirdly whimsical dishware featuring wolves who guard your snacks and mice who perform for cakes.

Bad Motherf*ckers – Amazingly detailed action figures from The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, and more.

Ghostz – Weird little browser-based game which imagines a virtual pet experience about caring for the ghost of a virtual pet that you let die.

5 Creepy Things You Learn Cleaning Up the Scene Of a Murder – This clickbaity headline is actually an interesting glimpse into the business of biohazard cleanup.

A Jolly Nightmare – Mashup illustration of Jack and Sally dressed as Bert and Mary Poppins. (via Tanya)

Marbled Red Vinasse Eggs – This riff on Chinese tea eggs make them look nicely bloody. If you can’t the red wine lees called for in the recipe, some red food coloring could probably be substituted.

A Dirty Job – Novel about a regular guy who discovers that he’s been recruited to gather the souls of the dying. The plot has certainly been done, um, to death, but the author is Christopher Moore and he writes funny stuff.

Infantium Victoria – Lovely goth baby clothes, which are often hard to find. (Hat tip to Beth)

Wee Witch’s Cottage – Cute miniature “witch house” with lots of neat details.

Compendium of Demonology and Magic – NSFW. BoingBoing looks at some of their “favorite monsters” from this 1775 guide to demonology.

Medusa Satchel – Felted Gladstone bag featuring a big ol’ gorgon.

She Walks in Shadows – New anthology featuring women fighting Lovecraftian nightmares.

Transposed Horror – Iconic horror themes re-recorded in a major key are kind of adorable.

5 Hours of Edgar Allan Poe Stories Read by Vincent Price & Basil Rathbone – Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone could read the phone book and I’d listen to it. (via Shellhawk)

Crypt Hotel Room – A hotel in Maine is offering an uncomfortable-sounding crypt for rent.

On the Next Episode of Ghost Hunters – This ‘toon by The Fantastician is charming. (Hat tip to Pixel Pixie)

Tentacle Tie – Crocheted necktie full of suckery goodness. The same seller also has tentacle scarves.

We Light Your Scrotum on Fire – Apart from being the name of my next band, this Cracked article explores “realities of the morgue.”

Sandman Chess Set – Collectible chess set based on Gaiman’s graphic novels.

All-black Chickens – BoingBoing mentions the “perfect for goth urban homesteaders” (har, har) Indonesian Ayam Cemani chicken, which is completely black and sells for $199 per chick. Somebody in the comments mentions that the same breeder sells Swedish black chickens, which look identical to the untrained eye, for half that. That’s a teensy bit pricey unless you’re an awfully rich goth urban homesteader, but they’re still pretty neat.

Gooey Monster Eye Cookies – This isn’t of interest so much for the recipe as for the presentation. You could make any number of cookie recipes and use the same candy eyeballs for decoration.

Defining the Gothic – MetaFilter thread (and link to the article which spawned the discussion) about what “gothic” means. (Hat tip to Bruno)

Deadly Grounds Coffee – Their tagline is “coffee to die for,” insert weary rimshot here.

The Resurrectionist – Unusual novel which begins by providing the biography for the fictional Dr. Spenser Black and continues into Black’s magnum opus, a fantastically-detailed anatomy “textbook” of mythical beasts.

Floccinaucinihilipilification – This artist’s series of Harry Potter cartoons are sublime. Dumbledore gets all the best lines.

Scientists Discover OctoKittens – This is my new name for salticid spiders. (There’s a petition to change their name, unofficially, here.)

C is for Cthulhu – Successful kickstarter for a Lovecraftian alphabet board book, plus a wee plush Cthulhu. (Hat tip to Jes)

Okily Dokily – There’s a Ned Flanders-themed metal band. Because of course there is.

Dancing with Costică – Artist Jane Long digitally manipulates vintage photos into wonderfully surreal dreamscapes.

GalaFilc – Etsy shop full of interesting needle-felted creations, including this awesome octopus coin purse.

Halloweeño Poppers – I’ve seen plenty of “mummies” made from hot dogs, but this is the first jalapeño recipe I’ve encountered. Looks tasty.