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May Monster Madness: Day 7

May 16, 2013, 9:54 pm
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May Monster Madness Giveaway

We've reached the final day of May Monster Madness, and I would like to thank MMM super villain, Annie Walls, and my co-henchman, Ked, of Something Wicked this Way Comes, for all their hard work in organizing and promoting this event. I'd also like to  thank all of the awesome bloggers who participated and made this blog hop a great success.

For this last post, I am doing a giveaway. I usually make little vampire and ghost dolls, but May Monster Madness inspired me to design a little monster.

If you would like a chance to win my Little Gothic Horror, all you have to do to enter is suggest a name for him and leave it in the comments. I will assign a number to each comment in the order that they are left and the winner will be chosen via the Random.org Random Number Generator. Please make sure you leave me some way to contact you. This giveaway is open internationally. Entries close on Sunday 19th, at 11.00 pm Eastern US time.

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. See the results here.


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And finally, for everyone collecting monsters for the May Monster Madness Hunt over on Annie's blog, here is the final monster. Just click on the link and name the monster to enter Annie's giveaway.







MMM Hunt








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And the winner is...

May 20, 2013, 12:34 am
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The Wild Fairy!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. I loved all the names you suggested. Every one of them made me smile. I assigned a number to each comment in the order that they were left and the winner was chosen by the RANDOM.ORG True Random Number Generator.

The winning number was 2: The Wild Fairy. Maximilian the Monster will soon be winging his way to you, Siobhan!


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You're Invited!

May 22, 2013, 7:04 pm
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A Very Addams Blog Birthday!

May 23, 2013, 7:30 pm
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The Little Gothic Horrors blog turns 2 today! I almost didn't throw a party this year, as I'm a tad weary after all the May Monster Madness shenanigans, but my beloved Addams Family just wouldn't hear of that and stepped in to host the soiree at their mansion.

There was much hustle and bustle in the Addams' abode as the family made preparations for the gathering. Even Gorgo the Gorilla, and Morticia's sister, Ophelia, dropped by to lend a hand.
Cousin Itt and Kitty Cat pretty much just sat around though.

Outfit options were considered.
Morticia and Gomez were a little concerned about the weather.
It was so dreadfully bright and sunny!
But after a few words in just the right ear...
It's now a perfect night for a party!
Lurch, the butler, greets partygoers at the front door.

Uncle Fester and Grandmama serve pre-dinner drinks and nibbles to the guests.

The Menu
The Addams clan always provides plenty of entertainment.
How about a little music?
Anyone care to dance?
And now Wednesday will recite a poem she wrote about her spider, Homer.
And finally, what's a party without gifts?
To celebrate the blog's birthday, I'm giving away a set of 4 postcards featuring vintage witch artwork.
Along with a set of 13 Bedlam Supply Co. macabre, Victorian-style poison labels, which can be used on bottles, apothecary jars and altered books, etc.
To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment telling me what you would bring along as a gift for hostess, Morticia, if you really were invited to the Addams' house for dinner. I will assign a number to each comment in the order that they are left and the winner will be chosen via the RANDOM.ORG True Random Number Generator. Please make sure you leave me a name and some way to contact you. This giveaway is open internationally. Entries close on Sunday, June 2, at 11:00 pm Eastern US time.

I'd like to thank everyone who connects with me here, or on other sites like Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Anyone who blogs regularly knows that there is a lot of work involved, but I adore my little blog, and best of all, I've made some absolutely wonderful friends online over the past two years!



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And the winner is...

June 3, 2013, 12:02 am
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linnea-maria!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Little Gothic Horrors blog birthday party at the Addams Family mansion. It was wonderful to see you all, and oh my, what darkly delightful gifts you brought for Morticia! I assigned a number to each comment in the order that they were left and the winner was chosen by the RANDOM.ORG True Random Number Generator.

The winning number was 3: linnea-maria! The witch postcards and the poison labels will soon be winging their way to you, linnea-maria!



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Delightfully Dark Art: Abigail Larson

June 6, 2013, 1:34 am
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Amarantha and Archibald End from Amarantha's Red Ribbon by Abigail Larson



I first stumbled across the work of illustrator, Abigail Larson, on Pinterest, and it was love at first sight! Not only is she extraordinarily talented artistically, but much of her work is charmingly macabre in theme.
Edgar Allan Poe and The Grave of Lenore by Abigail Larson



My particular favourites are her many Edgar Allan Poe inspired works, including portraits of Poe himself, and her illustrations for an in-progress graphic novel called Amarantha's Red Ribbon.

You can see lots more of Abigail Larson's beautiful artwork on herwebsite, at deviantART and in her online shop.


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Dumb Ways to Die

June 13, 2013, 6:01 pm
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Dumb Ways to Die is a web film made as part of a public service campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne (where I live), Australia, to promote railway safety. The song went viral back in November 2012, but in case you haven't seen it, I wanted to share it here.



I can't resist the creepy-cute factor and the catchy song is completely stuck in my head.

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Delightfully Dark Finds: Calaveras Card Deck

June 24, 2013, 10:49 pm
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Calaveras Playing Cards by Chris Ovdiyenko


There are many crowdfunding campaigns vying for attention at the moment but these Kickstarter project playing cards, inspired by the Mexican Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival, recently caught my eye. The beautiful illustrations on these cards are by artist, Chris Ovdiyenko, and were inspired by the work of the famous Mexican printmaker, José Posada.

La Calavera Catrina by José Guadalupe Posada
José Guadalupe Posada (February 2, 1852 – January 20, 1913) was a Mexican cartoonist, illustrator, printmaker and political satirist. He is probably best know for his "calaveras" or skull artworks, in particular the Calavera de la Catrina, which satirized the Mexican upper classes during the reign of dictator, Porfirio Díaz. Posada's work has since become associated with the Día de los Muertos holiday.

You can see more of Chris Ovdiyenko's artwork, and find out how to obtain your own deck of Calaveras playing cards, here.


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A Little Infernal Imagery

July 1, 2013, 4:32 am
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About a year ago, I stumbled across an image on Pinterest of skeletons in a row boat. The photo looked very old, and at first, I thought it might have been a still from a film by french filmmaker, Georges Méliès, who was the subject of the movie, Hugo, but then a Pinterest pal suggested it might be a detail from Les Diableries. Whilst grateful for this piece of information, I'm afraid I had no idea what she was referring to, so I set about doing some research that eventually led me to The London Stereoscopic Company.

The Diableries are a series of stereoscopic photographs created in Paris from the 1860s through to 1900. Apparently, Parisians had a quite an appetite for all things diabolical during this period, so these stereo cards depicted scenes of life in Hell, often satirizing the politics and lifestyle of the day. Sculpted clay vignettes were photographed with a stereo camera, and when viewed through a stereoscope, produced a magical 3D effect.

To learn more about these amazing works of art, and see more of the Diableries, I highly recommend checking out The London Stereoscopic Company website. They also have a book coming out called, Diableries - Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell, by Brian May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming. It is due to be released on October 10, 2013... just in time for Halloween.


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Phoebe with her Skellie

July 14, 2013, 6:52 pm
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Happy Birthday, Ted Cassidy!

July 30, 2013, 4:44 pm
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Ted Cassidy as Lurch in The Addams Family


Actor Ted Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 1932. He played a number of off-beat characters in science-fiction and comedy shows, but he is probably best known for his role as Lurch in The Addams Family television series (1964 -1966).

Apparently, Lurch's signature line, "You rang?", was ad-libbed by Cassidy, but was such a hit that it was thereafter regularly written into the scripts. He suffered from health issues as he grew older, largely due to his unusual size, and died on January 16, 1979, at the age of 46, from complications following open-heart surgery.



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Delightfully Dark Style: Bell, Book and Candle

August 15, 2013, 7:59 pm
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I first saw the movie Bell, Book and Candle (1958) on TV one cold, rainy afternoon when I was a teenager. It's the story of Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak), a witch living in Greenwich Village with her cat and familiar, Pyewacket, who falls for her very normal neighbour, Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart). My mother had casually remarked that it was the inspiration behind the television series Bewitched, and my interest had been instantly piqued. As a kid, I loved to watch the reruns of shows like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and of course, The Addams Family. My aesthetic taste is a strange brew of mid 20th century style mixed with the Gothic, and I'm sure a childhood television diet of magical sixties sitcoms filled with witches, genies, and charmingly macabre oddballs is partly responsible for that. Bell, Book and Candle, with its combined retro cocktail chic and supernatural elements, also had a huge impact on me.




Although she had the pinup looks of a standard fifties bombshell, Kim Novak never came across as a ditzy blonde playing Gillian in Bell, Book and Candle. With her smoky, modulated voice and her sultry, languid movements, she's the very essence of mystery and urban sophistication. And of course, we can't forget the other star of the film... no, I don't mean James Stewart... I'm referring to Pyewacket the cat! I love all cats, but it was Pyewacket who kick-started my particular affection for felines from the Siamese family.

The sets and clothing (Gillian's wardrobe is almost exclusively red and black) are a huge part of the film's appeal, and in fact, Bell, Book and Candle was nominated for Oscars in Art Direction/Set Decoration and Costume Design.



Now, I will confess, it's not a perfect movie. There is a moment when things turn decidedly Doris Day-ish, but it's only a few minutes of screen time, and I've trained myself to re-imagine it aesthetically. I'm sure that moment, which I personally refer to as the "big cop-out", was intended to appeal to mainstream audiences of the day. No doubt, Bell, Book and Candle's subculture of beatnik witches and Gillian's avant-garde lifestyle would have seemed comically confronting and weird in the fifties, but I'm guessing that most people who love this movie the way I do, dig it for precisely that delightfully dark fringe factor.

The illustration (left) of Gillian and Pyewacket is by artist, Pete Emslie of The Cartoon Cave.
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Happy Birthday, Blossom Rock!

August 20, 2013, 10:43 pm
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Blossom Rock was born on August 21, 1895, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her youth, she performed on the vaudeville stage with her older sister, actress/singer Jeanette MacDonald, and later went on to a career in movies, television, and Broadway. She is probably best remembered however, in the role of Grandmama on The Addams Family TV series (1964 -1966).

Although Grandmama was portrayed as the mother of Morticia in some later incarnations of The Addams Family, when the role was played by Blossom Rock in the original sixties series, she was the mother of Gomez. The part of Morticia's mother, Granny Frump, was played by Margaret Hamilton, who was the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.

Grandmama Addams as she was depicted in cartoon form by her creator, Charles "Chas" Addams.



Blossom Rock died on January 14, 1978, at the age of 82.


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Happy Birthday, Tim Burton!

August 25, 2013, 4:37 am
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Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California. After a shaky start to his career working for the Disney studio, he has gone on to become a renowned, and sometimes controversial, film director, film producer, writer, artist and animator. He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I greatly admire him and his truly original brand of filmmaking. He would definitely be on my list of ultimate fantasy dinner party guests.


Tim Burton's dark, gothic, and quirky aesthetic has seeped into every corner of popular culture and has influenced many contemporary filmmakers, writers, illustrators, designers, and animators. His distinctive style and recurring collaborations with certain actors and crew members have caused somewhat of a backlash against him in recent years, but even when he has made a film that I may not rank amongst my own top preferences, I still take pleasure in the fact that he continues to defiantly march to the beat of his own drum.

Tim Burton Concept Art


 






Beetlejuice, Batman Returns and Sleepy Hollow are probably my three favourite Tim Burton movies, and amongst my best-loved movies of all-time. I'm also very fond of Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie, Corpse Bride, and even the flawed, but for me, still entertaining, Dark Shadows. Incidentally, Coraline, which I also love, is NOT a Tim Burton film. That popular misconception seems to have arisen from the fact that both The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline were directed by Henry Selick.

Beetlejuice







Batman Returns



Sleepy Hollow
 
So, assuming that you do like Tim Burton's movies, which would you pick as your top three favourites?


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Delightfully Dark Art: J. E. Larson

September 4, 2013, 4:28 am
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I'm afraid I can't tell you very much at all about J. E. Larson, other than he's male, an artist, and possesses a darkly whimsical imagination. Any profile that he has written about himself seems to be more a wild flight of fancy than a standard "about me" type blurb.


I was captivated by his illustrations the moment I set eyes upon them. His work is predominantly black and white, which I adore, with just an occasional pop of red, and is done in a cross-hatched style reminiscent of Edward Gorey.


The subjects of his artwork range from eerie Victorian Gothic themes to Alice in Wonderland nonsense and Batman.




You can see more of J. E. Larson's gorgeous illustrations at his REDBUBBLE store.



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Friday the 13th... Addams Style!

September 12, 2013, 8:46 pm
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Happy Friday the 13th! And how does one celebrate one of the more delightfully dark dates on the calendar? Well, for me, a cartoon by Charles "Chas" Addams seems appropriate. After all, in the world of the Addams Family, it's a red-letter day!



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Come little children, I'll take thee away...

September 19, 2013, 7:44 pm
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There are certain movies, like Hocus Pocus, that have become a yearly tradition during the spooky season in my household. It's a film that sums up the fun side of Halloween to me and although it is definitely family fare, it also has its sinister moments. Amidst all the colour, campiness, mayhem and cheesy humour, the witches are, in the tradition of the darkest fairy tales, child killers.


One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is simultaneously beautiful and disquieting: Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), the youngest and prettiest of the three Sanderson sisters, takes to the skies on her broom and lures children from their homes with her haunting siren song. She is usually leaping about with irrepressible high spirits, flirting, and uttering inanities that try the patience of her eldest sister, Winifred (Bette Midler), but the dramatic change in tone gives this scene added impact. With her cape billowing about her, Sarah is no longer the vapid fool, but eerily graceful and beguiling as she ushers the children to their deaths.





To the best of my knowledge, the Come Little Children lyrics were written by Brock Walsh (music composed by James Horner), although mysterious extra verses have appeared online and are, to my surprise, being credited to Edgar Allan Poe. After a little research however, I have discovered a few Poe scholars who rigorously dispute this claim.


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Haunted Halloween Doll Challenge 2013

October 12, 2013, 3:57 am
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Creepy dollies are just my cup of tea, so when Ms Misantropia pointed me in the direction of the Haunted Halloween Doll Challenge, how could I possibly resist. Thank you to Kim of the Tabitha Lenox blog for hosting this charmingly macabre affair.

Unfortunately, doll making has taken a bit of a backseat for me lately because of other more pressing commitments, but this event has given me the perfect excuse to dive back in. My entry for the challenge is Arabella, the doll of a little girl called Lucy Mortimer who died in 1892. Arabella was placed in the child's coffin and is now the eternal companion to Lucy's ghost, as she plays amongst the gravestones of the cemetery where she was buried.

You can join me in visiting all the other participating blogs by clicking here.



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All Hallows' Grim 2013 - So Good, So Dark: The Addams Family

October 13, 2013, 2:57 am
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First up, thank you to the lovely Magaly, of Pagan Culture blog, for hosting All Hallows' Grim 2013. The theme, "So Good, So Dark", triggered so many permutations for posts in my brain, both light-hearted and thought provoking, that at first I was completely overwhelmed by all the possibilities. I decided that I'd better narrow my focus just a tad. This blog is dedicated to the delightfully dark and the darkly delightful, so over the course of this blog fest, I thought I'd concentrate on some of my favourite things that are both so good and so dark.

Okay, for dark goodness, I simply must start with The Addams Family television series from the sixties. Transferring the wickedly amusing cartoons of Charles Addams into a TV comedy was fraught with all kinds of potential problems. They had to find a way to move beyond one-panel gags and create a fully fleshed out storyline with characters who were appealing despite their strangeness. What they delivered, in my opinion, was genius. The show dripped with irony. The members of this bizarre and macabre family were loathed and feared by anyone who crossed their path, but despite their peculiarities, they were actually loving, generous, polite and loyal. The show's so-called normal characters, by contrast, were invariably rude, nasty, selfish and dishonest.

Even psychologists and psychiatrists of the era took note of how functional the seemingly dysfunctional family was.  John Astin, who played Gomez Addams, commented on this in his forward to The Addams Chronicles, by Stephen Cox:

"They said we were, in fact,
the healthiest family on the air."
 
The Addams Family was also about tolerance, it was, as John Astin also wrote:

"A celebration of the unconventional
in a world of conformity."

 The Addams Family television series was indeed, the very definition of, "So Good, So Dark". To see the list of all the other participating blogs in All Hallows' Grim 2013, just click here.



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All Hallows' Grim 2013 - So Good, So Dark: The Witch Next Door

October 14, 2013, 7:21 pm
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[Image Source]






As I'm sure you've already deduced, I'm taking a somewhat lighthearted approach to the All Hallows' Grim - So Good, So Dark blog fest. For my second offering, I've chosen this illustration from the delightful 1965 picture book, The Witch Next Door, written and illustrated by Norman Bridwell.

I can't help grinning when I see this picture. I'd love to frame it and hang it on the wall. I tend to wear a LOT of black, and it's not because I'm making any specific sartorial statement, or because I'm gloomy, or insecure...  I just love it. It's my default setting, if you will. So this post is just a little salute to those of us who are no strangers to the phrase, "Does it come in black?".

To see the list of all the other participating blogs in All Hallows' Grim 2013, just click here.


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