Zombie Soap

Either you know or know someone that knows a zombie. Carl, who lives 4 doors down, is the nicest zombie that you ever could want to meet. He's good with kids, loves animals, has 3 cute little zombie kids and volunteers at the local soup kitchen. But as you may or may not know, zombies have notorious bad hygiene. Someone approached Carl not too long ago and he said it was his diet (brains) and said it was also sensitive dead skin and regular soap irritated it. Then he ate their brains.
I gave Carl a bar of Chris Merritt Zombie Soap from The Left Hand Handmade Herbal Soap Company. The description is:

"Feel like you’ve just survived a brisk, shrieking run through a zombie infested forest! Cedarleaf, Frankincense & Oakmoss thrill the senses and keep any good zombie clean and happy."

Well, Carl tried it and was delighted, and more so, it's made by:

"a small batch, independent worker's collective dedicated to quality, natural and organic body care. We created the company as an outlet for our creative energies, to provide an alternative to petroleum based skin care, and to promote environmental consciousness by example. We strive to have a positive relationship with our fellow workers, our customers, our community and our environment through quality craftsmanship and responsible business practices."

and they're local folks here where I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to boot! They have many many other scents and products that Carl wants to try as well as myself (the sage/peppermint lip balm is to die for, Carl loves that joke). I bought myself several bars of different scents including Zombie Soap and they are wonderful. They have a great light natural scent, are long lasting, lather well and rinses cleanly.

Carl recommends them highly and so do I. He said he would eat my brains if I had any, we both love that joke too!

Alexander Henry Halloween Fabrics

For those of us that like to sew, it's usually hard to find fabrics that fit our particular darker and spookier lifestyles. Alexander Henry is one of the only fabric company designers that I know that consistantly comes out with really fantastic prints. This year he has graced us with a skull arabesque which I will definatly grab a couple of yards and something for the ladies (or gentlemen, dependant upon your tastes) which is the Halloween Hunks fabric.

Just Google Alexander Henry Halloween fabrics for a retailer. I have used www.Virginiaquilter.com as they have always given me good service and pricing. I would have offered up Hancocks but the employees at my local one act like it's a chore to wait on you and that it would be a privilage to you if they should stoop so low as to answer a question.

Oh, don't think that I can sew? Don't think a guy can run a sewing machine?



This was an 18th century wedding dress for Ms. M I made from scratch in '92. I think it had an internal corset as well as side 'pillows' at the hips and a 20 foot train. It's not as pretty as she was (and is) but it was my "rite of passage" garment. I'm working on a wool frock coat right now for myself as Mr. Macabre needs one to complete his creepy ensemble.

Mysterious Implements and Mysteries....

We got a weekend trip to Memphis two weeks ago courtesy of Mrs. Macabre's insurance company and one of my favorite things to do is shop. I love to go through all the fun stores, all the tourist traps but especially counter-culture stores...and then sometimes I get lucky and find something a little on the 'mystical' side.
I've always been fascinated with magick although never have practiced any other than playing with a Ouija board when I was younger (I always pushed the pointer so I don't think that counts). I've always been fascinated with ghosts, the paranormal, and all the trappings thereof. I found in this odd tourist store in the middle of Beale Street that looked like an old dry goods store that displayed a row of paraphernalia that was, well, strange (and they ONLY took cash, there was an ATM right by the register, no debit, no credit cards). There were bottles of powders, like sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal as well as many dried herbs in little bags, some I readily recognized, some I had no idea what they were. So many fascinating things right there that I chose some of the more interesting of the lot:

Across the bottom is a row of soaps (I had to throw them away, they STANK!!! I kept the boxes), that promised protection from harm, uncrossing, fast luck and helping hand. Across the top is Black Cat incense with a prayer on the back and instructions to burn it every day and read the 23rd Psalms. Then we have 7 Holy Spirit Hyssop Bath Oil, again with instructions on what Psalms to read and have to use it. Strange thing is, I don't really think it says what the end result is to be, whether it is purification, healing, whatever? The little green bottle 0n top of the Black Cat stuff is just a cool bottle of bergamot (citrus orange) perfume. I should have burned the whole box of the Special Fast Luck incense BEFORE I went to Tunica Mississippi to the casinos!!! The Showers of Gold I can only guess that it would mean some prosperity inducing incense. Again, it has instructions on reading Psalms while the incense is burning.
Lastly....This. This is 'Special Oil'. No instructions, no explanation, no nothing. What is it? What does it propose to do? What do you do with it?
It has a distinct citronella scent. You shake it up and it separates again. A mystery.

All these things are a mystery to me. Do they work, do they not? Who is Dr. Pryor? What is in the Special Oil bottle and how is it used? Who would buy these things to use them in a solomn manner? To loosely quote Kevin Spacey in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil when John Cusack asked him why didn't he have a particular painting x-rayed to see what the underpainting was, he replied "I rather enjoy not knowing". Would I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that ghosts do or do not exists? I don't think I would. Would I want to know the existence of aliens or not? Probably not. Would I want to know that I was truly alone in a dark graveyard in the middle of the night?

Damn straight I would!

I am curious though, if anyone can shed any light on the implements, I would love to know about them!

Mr. Macabre's Giveaway...

And the drawing out of the hat brings..........
The Captain from The Captain's Ramblings! Congratulations! No, wait, there's another one! Ghoul Friday of My Ghoul Friday! These two wonderfully vile creatures will have a strange and bizzare concoction of sinister and wonderous things headed their way.

Two second place runners up? Well, ok, if you insist....
Pumpkinbrain from Pumpkinbrain.com! Dixie from Nickols Manor! These two persons of delightful but questionably wicked motives will also have a prize pack headed their way.

Thank you all for your participation! Next giveaway...the High Holy Day...Hallowe'en!

Day Late--haunted video review Thursday

Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America
Hosted by Daniel Roebuck and Bob Burns with Chuck Williams

I never saw this video when it came out the first time in 1997. I don't really know if it was either on television or in the theater although I suspect it was a television special. I still don't know who Chuck Williams is but I did recognize Bob Burns as the gorilla in the old Saturday morning show "Ghost Busters" and not the photon plasma packs one. What I do know is that it is a fun and informative romp through the Halloween season with interviews with such greats as Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger), Alice Cooper (one of my favorites), Tom Savini (pioneer of makeup artistry) and a host of others recollecting their Halloween memories from their childhood. It starts out as a creature feature type setup in which Dr. Shocker, Igor and the gorilla host a pseudo horror show before the main event begins (which is corny but fun). Interspersed are tours of haunted attractions from around the country, some I have seen and some totally new to me, but all intriguing. This 2 disk set contains the main movie and a bonus features disk (to which I truthfully haven't gotten through yet, mainly because they just kind of sit around and talk about the first movie, the only thing I remember is that they all gained a little weight over 10 years).

Overall the movie is fun, a welcome diversion. There's no how-to's but there's a bunch of inspiration from other haunts and attractions featured and just good fun seeing your favorite murderers, sadists and demons in jeans and tee shirts talking about how they went trick or treating as a kid. Except for Alice Cooper, he was in full leather and makeup, which is fine with me because I wouldn't expect any less from him. It's a fun video, I'd recommend it if nothing else for the haunted houses that are featured.

iPretentious

People with iPhones are so pretentious. Just because they have the cream of the crop technology, they think that they are all that and their rear don't stink. They go around with their little headphones, playing with their little touch screen, listening to their little iTunes on their little white headsets like they're Paris Hilton or something.

I got one yesterday after my phone died. I am now one of those obnoxious people. I have had to eat many many words lately from Sausage Von Trapp whose family are Mac followers and the fact that I have always lauded the glories of the PC.

My iPhone's name is Bob.

My Mama Had a Cure For This...

If I would have pulled this stunt, I would have been knocked into the next county and when I woke up out of intensive care and they removed the life support when I was able to breathe on my own, I was told that my behavior was inappropriate and that I shouldn't act that way.

Incredible.

Weird #%$&@ Alabama

I was driving along a county road today and this sign caught my eye.




Yes, it's real. I first thought that it was Mr. Freeze's proper name in Batman but it is actually the name of a fictional Louisiana town from a book from which I have not read nor heard from before I Googled it. Don't know if it is related to the book or not. The irony is that the temperature has stayed in the 90's for the past week.

The state motto is Alabama the Beautiful. Most of the time it should be Alabama the Bizarre.

Haunted Video Review Thursday

Fun-To-Know: Create A Halloween Haunted House

I ordered this on a whim before I joined Netflix but am still glad that I bought it. Hosted by some people that I have no idea who they are including a mega-melodramatic goth chick and a red headed guy that desperately needs a hot oil treatment in his hair (comb your hair dude, you're on camera!), this is basically a do-it-yourself haunted house guide that leans more towards the startle scare and gore side of haunting (see, didn't leave you all out!).
As an overview, this DVD has some very good pointers on prop construction, although they are guidelines and not a strict take-you-by-the-hand-this-is-how-you-do-it sort of instructions and it expects you to know how to use hand and power tools and have a basic grasp of electrical wiring. The ideas on the electric chair are really innovative but would have like to have had a little more information on coffin construction aside from "put a couple of old boards together". However, the electrified sparking chainsaw idea alone is worth the DVD. I am fairly well versed in electrical practice and theory and know that it's probably fairly safe but it would still make me nervous hooking a car battery up to a chainsaw blade and running it across a fence where the other wire is connected for a shower of sparks. But it does look cool and probably could make a couple of kids lose bladder control!

If you have Netflix, rent this DVD. It has a bunch of great ideas and inspiration for the classic startle scare haunt. Buy it if you have the money laying around, I feel it's a good investment for both the novice and the pro.

Like I needed another diversion/addiction..

I found a guilty pleasure last night...Trueblood.  I saw it on Netflix and said, "hmmm, looks interesting." 

Addicting is a more accurate term.

Taking place in Louisiana, vampires are trying to intergrate themselves within society upon creation of synthetic blood.  One 174 year old vampire strolls into town and inadvertertantly finds bigotry and love within a narrow minded Southern backwoods town.

It's getting more complicated but that was the gist of season 1.   Sigh, the laundry's going to be piling up again it seems....