“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

I promised I would show some of the contest entries coming in for the Something Sinister photo contest, which goes on until 11:59 p.m. on All Hallow’s Eve. If you don’t know the rules, or cannot recall them, click on the link and check them out…could possibly be the simplest rules of a contest ever! 🙂

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”

~Duane Michals

The opening image is my contribution to the Something Sinister pool. I hope it is fairly obvious exactly what is going on in this picture.

For those of you looking for a little inspiration and/or for those of you needing a kick in the proverbial pants, here a few examples of photos that I have received as entries. This is certainly not all of them, but a fairly representative mix. In no particular order:

Continue reading An Update on Something Sinister →

Twas a Burtonesque Weekend, and oh what a weekend it was! With only two weekends left before All Hallow’s Eve I decided it was certainly time to get down to it in regards to basking in holiday appropriate behavior. An unseasonably warm Saturday found us at the annual D family hayride, basking in the glorious sunlight, enjoying good company, beautiful countryside, and a hearty autumn meal. Wrapped around that experience were cool autumn days and a cornucopia of Tim Burton goodness.

Continue reading A Burtonesque Weekend →

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

~Scottish Prayer

Cool temperatures, dark overcast skies, and the scent of autumn in the air brought with it the desire to begin our marathon of frightful films. With October at the half way point, it seemed quite fitting to begin now, and to begin with the Master of horror films, Vincent Price.

And so we started with that tongue-in-cheek film, The Raven, that Roger Corman classic loosely based (extremely loosely) on the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Such a fun film, with all the tropes of classic horror films.

How about you, are you into scary movies? Do you have any October film traditions regarding horror films? Are there films you wait until dark October nights to revel in year after year?

Continue reading Night Terrors and Creepy Contests →

With all that has been going on lately, it is necessary for me to take some time and catch you up on a few things.

The first is the Four-legged Friends Reading Challenge conceived by and hosted by Kailana. I certainly feel like Kailana is a kindred spirit due in part to the shared experience we have had this year with having to put a pet to sleep. That actually happened to me twice this past year, as I accompanied a dear friend when she had to put her dog Gypsy down and then found myself in the unfortunate position of having to return to that same vet months later to put Razz to sleep. Kailana founded this challenge, which runs from Sept. 26th to February 26th as a way to honor ones pets, and/or the memory of one’s pets. You can find out more about the guidelines for the challenge here.

Continue reading Catching Up →

For so many of us the month of October is all simply a prelude to the Halloween season and if you are like me then you want to stretch out the Halloween vibe throughout the entire month rather than leaving it all for one day. That desire to make Halloween last the whole month was part of the impetus behind the first R.I.P. Challenge.

The work of Lisa Snellings-Clark has featured prominently in my blogging life and I have said many a time, and much more eloquently, just how much her work means to me and how much of an inspiration she is to my own creativity. Imagine my surprise when she offered to contribute to and partner with us for this year’s R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril II Challenge. In addition to Lisa and Ravyn making the amazing R.I.P. II bookmarks (revealed in yesterday’s post) and donating a little black poppet to the cause, she also forewarned me that she would be having a deliciously gothic sale during the month of October, allowing those of us reveling in the spirit of the season to add some of her marvelous creations to our collections.

Per usual I am a bit behind and the sale is already in full swing, but it is not too late to snag some interesting, unique, and fun October inspired creations from the mind of Lisa Snellings-Clark.

So join with me, and let’s Play in the Dark.

Continue reading Do you want to play a game?!?! →