(image courtesy of Wikipedia)

“And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” (The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe)

The dramatic effect of those words on my 7th grade self, particularly that final line, cannot be overstated. I remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday…

Continue reading Poe Unmasqued →

(Image by gorbould…check out the rest of his work, it is very good!)

Two more weeks left in October…two more weeks left for R.I.P. III Challenge activities…and boy is the weather here in the Kansas City area starting to look and feel just like autumn should feel. On this Monday, post 24-hour read-a-thon and post helping my parents move (a subject that will be examined in a melancholy post in November) I just thought I would discuss a cornucopia of things that are on my mind today.

Continue reading Monday Meandering →

“Photography is a kind of primitive theater, a kind of Tableau Vivant, a figuration of the motionless and made-up face beneath which we see the dead.”

~Roland Barthes

Last year my friend Suzanne, of Thus Says Suzanne fame, came up with a wonderful contest idea that fit so nicely in with the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril theme that I simply had to ask to co-sponser the event. The results of this idea, a photo contest telling a sinister tale, can be seen in the wrap up post from the first event here.

Suzanne, along with her sister Mosker (who incidentally lives here in KC and works for the same company as my dear wife) came up with some really fun examples last year and have done so again this year. The opening image is from Suzanne, and the image after the break is from Mosker.

These two creative souls have agreed to co-host this event again for R.I.P. III and will again be donning their judge robes for this year’s event.

There will be two categories and two prizes for Something Sinister II. Make the jump and I’ll tell you all about it.

Continue reading Something Sinister II →