Reading Offline: Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments
by Alex Boese
Really odd book about various "scientific" experiments, some gruesome, many just insane. Have't yet gotten to the elephants on acid part, but am definitely freaked out by the "let's decapitate an animal and try to keep just the head alive" chapter. Ugh.
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Nancy Milford
I never read much of Millay before, but Milford wrote a really interesting biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, so I was interested to see her next book. Still in the first chapter, but the prolog was amusing in itself. I always appreciate reading the background of how the author started on the book.
Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
I gave this to Jon as a gift a while back and only just recently remembered I never did borrow and read it myself. Am very amused so far. Sadly it's not the updated edition I've linked to - preface in our copy's dated Nov. 2000. Wonder what's been added/changed/corrected.
The New Kings of Nonfiction
by Ira Glass
Collection of nonfiction articles previously published in various magazines. Bought a while back in an airport and there are still a few articles I haven't finished reading. I really liked the Bill Buford article that became Among the Thugs.
...About?...
Batgrl is a pop culture junky who loves to mess about with cameras and video games. And is constantly amused by Jon, who she did honest and truly did meet online. Though she's been blogging since the '90s, evil sp@m'rs managed to break the old blog, and thus there's only more recent stuff here. (No great loss, actually!)
...I wanted to do a link post, but feel shamed by the epic past endeavors of certain Batgrl. She would flood the 'tubes with more Halloween goodness in one place than any human could stand. Perhaps that was her plan, to drive us mad with All-Hallows Eve joy..."
Oops, I don't have quite so many links - but this year I'm all about Day of the Dead and seeing some of the local color. And there will be more uploading of them - but here's a Flickr set of what I've got to start. More on the specifics of them all later.
Meanwhile a few quick links before we run out to review more Mexican food. Because it's important to have some mole at this time of year. Ghosts like mole I think.
Be a Comic Book Character for Halloween
Gearfuse.com, Oct. 27, 2009
That link is at Gearfuse (blog) - original set of photos is at the blog Charmed, which has other great holiday photos. But that costume - truly an original.
Monster Rally
For multiple Halloween links to all types of media. I'm still going through all of these.
...More later, running late!
Later
Day of the Dead decorations visited, many tacos eaten. Not at the same places of course.
And now back to our regularly scheduled seasonal linkage!
Tribute to Screaming Lord Sutch
If you've never heard of Screaming Lord Sutch you should perhaps read the Wiki page, then read more on this tribute site. In particular this page on The Savages and this page for some touring and costume amusement. I've only ever known Lord Sutch as the guy who did Halloweenish type music, which is why I'm including him here. Ah ha, here's what I was looking for: a blog entry with video embedded of Jack the Ripper. Enjoy!
Speaking of MetaFilter, here's a video that it led me to - one of my favorite sketches:
And the explanation of the ending, in case you ever wondered:
A timeline of TV censorship
Ian Lendler, CNN.com, August 1, 2007
"..."Monty Python's Flying Circus" airs "The Undertaker Sketch," in which an undertaker convinces a man that the best way to dispose of his deceased mother is to eat her (with French fries, broccoli, and horseradish sauce). Bizarrely, the BBC allows this to be shown, but only if the sketch ends with the studio audience storming the stage in disgust..."
Homemade UFOs over Missoula Montana
Orgone Research (blog), October 19th, 2009
"David Peterman and I created a mini UFO “flap” in the late 70’s by launching numerous hot air balloons in Missoula Montana. It all started because of typical teenage restlessness and an issue of Life magazine from the 60’s. My mother was always a fan of various “paranormal” topics like UFO’s and Bigfoot..."
This link I'm obviously adding for the Montana folk who I know wander by here sometimes.
To be filed under grim reality - this is definitely not a fun link:
In other "no, honest, this really happened" news...
Dead man slumped on balcony mistaken for Halloween decoration
Seema Mehta, LATimes blog, October 16, 2009
"A 75-year-old dead man sat decomposing on his Marina del Rey balcony for days because neighbors thought the body was part of a Halloween display and didn’t call police.
Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday with a single gunshot wound to one eye. He was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment on Bora Bora Way, said cameraman Austin Raishbrook, who owns RMG News and was on scene Thursday when authorities found the body.
Neighbors on the 13900 block of Bora Bora Way told Raishbrook that they noticed the body Monday “but didn’t bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy," he said.
"The body was in plain view of the entire apartment complex [and] they all didn’t do anything," Raishbrook said. "It’s very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest."..."
Yeah I know, I didn't believe it either. Mostly because we heard about it on AM radio (it's all we can tune in on part of the drive to Vegas) - and I make a policy of not believing anything I hear on AM radio. (Usually because most stations can't afford a real news bureau and/or they'll read anything off the internet without any concept of what "fact check" means.)
Ok, back to the more lighthearted links!
Scary Mummy Hot Dogs
Not Quite Nigella (blog), October 31, 2009
"...I know mummies’ wrappings are supposed to be more white than yellowed but I blame the distractedness on the fact that I didn’t hear the timer when it went off."
Meat Hand
Not Martha (blog), Oct. 27, 2009
"...This cheese thing, it worked a bit too well. We couldn't bring ourselves to actually eat either of them (though, we had been eating a lot of meatloaf lately). Here is a picture showing them side by side. They were cooked at the same time and the one with the ketchup beneath the cheese (white fingernails) browned a bit more..."
If you look at the photos on that link I think you'll be able to understand exactly how that hand was just too real looking to eat.
Halloween Ice for Cocktails
Not Martha (blog), Oct. 29, 2009
"...First I found these gummy eyeballs at Target. They come in their own ice tray, you just add water and freeze..."
Wait, how did I miss those at Target? We were just there last weekend...
Bloody Brain Shooter
Fine Living
"Channel your inner mad scientist with this Bloody Brain Shooter. Mixing acidic lime juice and Irish cream causes the cream to curdle, creating brain-like strands in the shot..."
Via Craftzine, Folkinz. Link to more drinks on that Fine Living article page - I think the Witches Brew sounds nice, and easy to whip up.
Hey, I have some links too! Remember "The Haunted Looking Glass," the Edward Gorey-selected and illustrated anthology of short ghost/horror stories? All but one of the stories is online, and I put links to them up here:
