filled with goodness!

* I finished my Halloween candy boxes and handed them out Monday. Some photos of them didn't turn out, but the ones I'm most proud of are:

Oh yeah, Necronomicons made of paper mache and tissue paper! I should have taken photos of the inside as well, but I forgot. Here's another one of my candy boxes (with a peek of the other two in the background):

* Speaking of unspeakable horror, check out this meat hand! Truly, truly disgusting and creative.

* I bought some Burt's Bees soap bark and chamomile deep cleansing cream and it smells just like Bazooka gum! Which is entirely appropriate for this time of year - I remember many a Halloween getting those little pink rocks of gum. My favorite candy was always chocolate: M&Ms, Kit Kats, peppermint patties. My least favorite was Sugar Babies, or anything super chewy that sticks in the teeth..

* Woo hoo, 6 followers! Welcome Lille and Muza-chan!

Inspiration from Eddie

Farewell, Fearsome Finds!

* A Yokai A Day - paintings of Japanese mythical monsters by Matthew Meyer. Here's Kuchisake-onna - I see a future Halloween costume!

The yuki-onna is also amazing.

* Fantastic Mexican-theme posters/masks from Firecracker Press (although I can't imagine wanting to cut one of these apart).

* Well, since the theme today seems to be spooky art, have a gander at some Mini Monsters and Tiny Terrors! Aww, lookit the dainty dagonite, or cutie Cthulhu:

* I guess this'll be the last Fearsome Finds for 2009 - I hope you enjoyed it!

zombie time!

Monday morning is appropriate for zombie posts, no?

* From shoeboxblog (yeah, Shoebox as in Hallmark):

Oops, somebody must not have liked it cause they had to take it down. But I'm all aboard with the Christmas music one! And the zombie complaint lists.

* Just when you thought all the zombie _____ ideas were taken, along comes the Calgary Zombie Walk:

* Zombie wedding cake! including bride with chainsaw. Flavor? Red velvet, natch. via Neatorama.

* I spent yesterday watching Fido and Evil Dead II while I worked on a couple of Very Special candy boxes. muaa haa haa!

random fun online

* Thirsty bats! A gentleman in England set up quite a few cameras to get photos of the bats that drank from his pond each night. Amazing to see the texture of their outspread wings and their itty bitty tongues.

* Mystery Google! Type in a search, and you get results from what the previous person searched for. I typed in "halloween party cup labels" and got results for "mmmmmmmm cake." :D "dharma initiative" resulted in "Mystery Google is the shizzzz" :snicker:

* George Takei and his husband Brad Altman were the first gay couple on The Newlywed Game! I don't like the show, but awwwww. They won $10,000 for the Japanese American National Museum.

* Did you know there's a black vodka? Instant spook-ification of cocktails for Halloween. Of course Martha has the scoop! Ghost in the Graveyard (vodka, creme de cacao, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg) sounds delicious and looks fantastic.

She has some other black cocktails in the Halloween special issue, but they aren't online (which surprises me). They include using black food coloring in ice cubes - as the ice cubes melt in your drink the drink gets darker. The effect is cool, especially in a red drink.

* Sonic doesn't have decaf! Sonic doesn't have decaf!

* Fifty people, one question. I love the answer "a planet made of cheese"!

(feel free to skip this next bit)

While watching, I was struck/reminded how attractive people are. Yeah, it's a selection of people willing to answer a question on camera at a certain place and time, but still. I think that watching television and movies, looking at magazines, all that exposure to "pretty" people (or at least those who producers believe we will think are pretty) makes us forget how appealing normal, everyday fellow residents of earth are. Watching them think about the question, smile at the person standing next to them, laugh, I teared up (been feeling emotional this week). Something about turning a camera on them suddenly makes them stand out? I can't explain very well.

Back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

droll outer-space man

From the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book, 1965

Halloween for normals

* How about Halloween finds at "normal" stores?

First up, Wisteria has a small collection of spooky, but I do dig the Corinthian candles - very goth. I also like the creepy votive holders.

Pottery Barn's collection is even smaller, but several pieces could be used at other times of the year as well. There's even stuff at Pottery Barn Kids - the chandelier is spooky cute!

Crate & Barrel - also tiny, but I do like the gourd candles and I've lately wanted some Japanese Lantern branches. (ooh, Japanese Lantern branches plus Chestnut branches in a matte black urn!)

* It's looking like I'll never get to Part Trois of my BC visit story - things have been crazy at Chez Kodama, what with getting the house ready to sell and certain sleeping issues. I'm working on my Necronomicon cross-stitch to settle my nerves, and I sorted through the scrap book paper for spooky goodie boxes. And I got some great cheapo toys at Tarjey to glitter-ize for the boxes - whee!

Palate cleansers

* Ming makes cookies, too!

*LoL cats to the rescue!

* Wonderful collection of literary drawings, such as Jules Verne:

See more at Hey Oscar Wilde, including lovely Lovecraft.

* Spooky food.

* Dino van

* Too cool to save until Monday - when you get too old to trick-or-treat, try this:

"... one Halloween our doorbell rang and we opened the door expecting to see trick-or-treaters-- but what was in front of our open door--was another door! Like, a full-on wooden door, that had a sign that said "Please knock." So we did, and the door swung open to reveal a bunch of college dudes dressed as really old grandmothers, curlers in their hair, etc, who proceeded to coo over our "costumes" and tell us we were "such cute trick or treaters!" One even pinched my cheek. Then THEY gave US candy, closed their door, picked it up and walked to the next house. It was amazing."

my personal boycott

WARNING - SERIOUS BUSINESS.

* The following movie-related people are among those who have signed a petition to protest the arrest of Roman Polanski. I will no longer spend money on their works.

Isabelle Adjani
Woody Allen (well, I've been boycotting him since Soon-Yi)
Pedro Almodovar
Wes Anderson
Asia Argento
Darren Aronofsky
Monica Bellucci
Adrien Brody
Guillermo del Toro (I don't think I can ever watch Pan's Labyrinth again)
Jonathan Demme
Peter Fonda
Harrison Ford (WHY?)
Stephen Frears
Terry Gilliam (sob)
Buck Henry
Isabelle Huppert
Jeremy Irons (he played Humbert Humbert)
Neil Jordan
Wong Kar Waï
Harmony Korinne
John Landis
David Lynch
Michael Mann
Sam Mendes
Jeanne Moreau
Mike Nichols
Natalie Portman
Martin Scorsese
Kristin Scott-Thomas (nooo)
Tilda Swinton
Emma Thompson! noooooooooooooooooooo!
Wim Wenders

Wow, that's quite a few folks. Makes me sad. At least Luc Besson is okay.

I'm SUPER stressed right now, and usually the cure involves watching movies. I don't think I can.

ETA: Some more folks are in the Okay With Me column:
Allison Anders (weird aside: I was just last week trying to think of the female director from "Four Rooms")
Luc Besson
Jesse Eisenberg - yay, Zombieland is go!
Neil Gaiman - thank you!!!
Javier Grillo-Marxuach - phew, going to Best Buy to pick up The Middleman
Greg Grunberg - psychic guy from Heroes
Kevin Smith