This nail art is six levels of meta. It’s a riff on the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt, only updated with “modern” plagues. Some of them, like, anti-vaxxers and gun violence, are sound choices; others, like NFL scandals, are a bit more…niche. (I do like the hazmat suit and the drippy blood, though.)
This made me wonder if nail art featuring the original Ten Plagues was a thing, and of COURSE it is. The same business responsible for the Modern Plagues nails, Midrash Manicures, actually sells decals depicting cow skulls, googly-eyed flies, and phlegmatic-looking frogs. A quick google also turns up some neat freehand versions like this one at 10 Blank Canvases and these (found at Marjorie Ingall).
Incidentally, Midrash Manicures has done different “modern plagues” for the past few years; you can see the whole collection here. I’m not sure why iPhones qualify as a plague, but whatever.
Passover begins April 3 and Easter is on April 5, so there’s still time to paint your nails with cutesy little reminders of divine horrors.
That’s all the links for this week. Regular posting (and once-a-week Link Dumps) return Monday.
Door of Durin – Redditor Eclipse_007 built a light-up “Mines of Moria” door for his home theater.
The Haunted Studio – Lewis Barrett Lehrman, “The Painter of Dark,” will paint a custom “haunted” version of your house. He also sells prints of other haunts he’s painted. I like this one.
Apocalypticon – A comedic post-apocalypse novel with a plot that sounds a little like Zombieland.
boom-art – Has limited-edition skateboards and surfboards featuring images like the “Maiden and the Unicorn” tapestry and Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights.” Some images are NSFW, so beware.
The Axolotl Song – Any song that manages to work, “neotenic” into a lyric is okay by me. Also axolotls. (via Anna)
Anti-Suffrage Postcards – This isn’t really goth, but occasionally it’s nice to realize that progress toward justice actually happens sometimes.
Pigeon Stories – Amusing Instagram account which explores the hidden lives of London pigeons.
Model Maze from The Shining – Adam Savage built a lovely model replica of the Overlook Hotel’s maze. I’m a little sorry it isn’t snow-covered. (Update: Savage has now published build notes.)
Creepy Art – Tumblr of “creepy art” with one of the most irritating backgrounds I’ve ever encountered. Anyway, this photo by Rachel Baran is neat.
Canis Mortuus Familiaris – Artist Jeremy Dower has a series of illustrations featuring ghostly, monstrous dogs. There are ostensibly more at his site, but since it’s all Flash-based it can’t be linked to directly.
Anton LaVey Blackhouse Photographs – Some photos of the interior of the Church of Satan HQ in San Francisco. I rather like the octopus mural.
Spaghetti Toes – An artist illustrates some of his three-year-old daughter’s more memorable expressions.
(S)Edition – Wonderful art installation featuring mushrooms with bookish caps.
To Be or Not to Be – There’s a “choose your own adventure” version of Hamlet. Huh.
balderdash! – Webcomic with the subtitle, “or, a tale of two witches.” io9 discusses it briefly here.
Give Out the Coolest Candy on the Block – A roundup of interesting candy available on Etsy. A few items, like the “ghost poop,” would be easily DIY-able. (Hat tip to Empress Pam)
Bailey Henderson – Sculptor of an ongoing series depicting fantastical creatures like a cockatrice and a rather adorably porky tusked seal. I also like her Octopus Lady illustration; it’s not everyone who can look so serene with a cephalopod perched on their head.
Children’s Stories Made Horrific – The Toast recasts various beloved childrens’ stories as hopeless, desperate tales, and they are depressing as hell. (Hat tip to Bruno)
Stayin’ in Black – Wax Audio did a mashup of AC/DC and The Bee Gees which works surprisingly well.
Steampunk Tendencies – Twitter account full of great steampunky photos and inspiration.
The Art of Dying – Kickstarter for some very cool skull-shaped soap, made in hand-carved molds.
Love Potion Necklace – Tutorial for making a vial of “love potion” to wear as a pendant. Obviously, the “potion” could easily be changed to something gothier.
Beauty by H.P. Lovecraft – “Slowly prying your rib cage open to reveal a teeming mass of spiders is considered very flirty.”
Dark City – Creepy series of diorama photos by Francesco Romoli.
Bone Lust – Etsy shop specializing in (ethically sourced) bone jewelry and accessories.
Pop Stars Gone Metal – Some great concept T-shirt designs (sadly not for sale), recasting mainstream artists as metal bands. There are a couple more here. (via Spooky Moon)
H.P. Lovecat – “Because there exists no method known to man, more terribly suited to expose the cosmic meaningless of existence than pairing the words of H.P. Lovecraft with seemingly delightful and charming pictures of adorable kittens.”
Russian Fairy Tales – Artist Uldus Bakhtiozina takes photos of vignettes based on Russian fairy tales. Some of these would be amazing cosplay ideas.
The Halloween Oracle – Gorgeous set of Halloween-themed divination cards. (via Spooky Moon)
Nihilist Arby’s – Arby’s is a U.S. fast-food chain (although they also have locations in Canada, Turkey, and Qatar; the hell?), but this amusing Twitter feed could just as easily apply to the fast-food restaurant of your choice.
Lure Paper Goods – Lots of neat vintage-feel greeting cards and stationery. (Hat tip to Fiend4Halloween)
Apuglogies – Pugs bearing apologies, courtesy of Tragedy Series. I wish I had cause to use the lower-left corner one more often.
SoEffingCute – Etsy shop specializing in geeky underwear bearing slogans like, “You Shall Not Pass,” “Mother of Dragons,” and “Speak, Friend, and Enter.”
Life Lessons from Gomez – A cartoon drawn in honor of Raul Julia’s birthday. “Nurture the passions of your loved ones, even when those passions are weird.”
Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism – Interesting-sounding novel which uses Lovecraftian horrors whilst confronting Lovecraft’s racism instead of eliding it. There’s a review at BoingBoing.
Zombie Bear – You know how I know that the whole “zombie” thing has jumped the dead, decaying, yet-horribly-reanimated-by-eldritch-forces shark? It isn’t Death Troopers. It isn’t the Nerf zombie-fighting gear. It’s this zombie teddy bear that you’re supposed to give as a token of your affection. Would somebody please shoot the zombie craze in the head, double-tap just to make sure, and then bring back vampires? Please?
David F. Sandberg makes amazing short horror films. I mentioned his short Lights Out – Who’s There a while back, but didn’t realize it was the second film in a loose “series” featuring a woman who really, really needs to move out of that apartment. The first in the series was Cam Closer, then Lights Out, after which came Pictured, Coffer, and the latest is Attic Panic, below.
Also be sure to check out his ultra-short See You Soon, in which he manages to scare the crap out of you in a mere 14 seconds.
Watching Sandberg’s stuff alone is a very, very bad idea.
Designer Mitch Barchi created this attractive Adventurer’s Kit for quick, portable roleplaying:
My goal was to create a portable kit that anyone could pickup and play a quick, or introductory, roleplaying session with little to no prep time. I created a simple overland map illustration for the lid using the Art Institute of Seattle’s lasercutter. I also included a standard set of polyhedral dice since they are used in many roleplaying systems. Many roleplaying systems also use miniatures, I wanted to include some basic minis for the players. The miniatures featured in these sets are vintage unpainted Heroscape monsters. Also provided is a Moleskine notebook with gridded paper if the player or game master want to map a dungeon or take notes. Each kit also includes a pamphlet for the excellent hack and slash World of Dungeons RPG system.
There are a couple of photos of the interior on Barachi’s site; the dice and miniatures are kept neatly in place with a foam insert. He doesn’t give any dimensions for the box, but assuming that the pencil inside is a standard-size #2, it’s probably about 10″ (25cm) square.
This would be a fun project to make as a gift for a tabletop gamer. You can find unfinished wooden boxes at craft stores or online; a flat cigar box like this one would work pretty well, but if you’re making a D&D-themed kit you may as well go a step further and use a treasure chest.
If you don’t have access to a laser cutter, a color printout of a map or other artwork could be decoupaged to the top. It’d also be possible to decorate the exterior with glued-on jewels or other decorations, but if the kit is intended to be portable you’d want to be careful to use flattish, sturdy elements that wouldn’t be chipped or dislodged by knocking about. Alternately, the wood could simply be stained or painted.
Foam padding for the interior is available at craft stores, but the dice and miniatures could also be put in little fabric bags to keep them from rolling around.
The notebook with gridded paper could also be themed; this “Smaug’s Scribbles” one from Etsy is cute. This “dragon skin” one is probably a bit too expensive to include in a DIY gaming kit, but it might be possible to find something similar made from faux crocodile leather.
This is a fun, thoughtful gift that could be personalized and embellished in all sorts of ways. You never know when an adventure game is going to suddenly break out, so it’s best to be prepared with a portable kit.
This nail art is six levels of meta. It’s a riff on the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt, only updated with “modern” plagues. Some of them, like, anti-vaxxers and gun violence, are sound choices; others, like NFL scandals, are a bit more…niche. (I do like the hazmat suit and the drippy blood, though.)
Designer Mitch Barchi created this attractive 