Penny Dreadful's Emporium of Curiosities

I'm so glad that's not what MY imagination is like.

2009-02-19T07:22:00.001-08:00

The Fitness Fascist

2009-02-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Gorgeously eerie and magical

2009-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

Syd Barrett's first acid trip, documented in a very spacey yet earthy manner.

Hedgehog interlude

2009-01-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

The Hedgehog in the Fog. Beautiful, and adorable, animation... It's in Russian, but you don't really need to understand the dialogue to enjoy it.

More Victoriana

2009-01-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Also by the creator of the Dictionary of Victorian London, this site, Victorian Etexts, is amazing--a collection of Victorian novels online in their entirety.

Victorian London

2009-01-11T21:23:00.000-08:00

I've always been fascinated by the simultaneously romantic and horrific vision of Victorian London... and some of that vision isn't too far off. Learn the facts and history here at the Dictionary of Victorian London.

Saluting the namesake

2009-01-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a collection of images from Victorian penny dreadfuls and more information here. A fascinating history and a vital contribution to the world of gothic literature.

Church

2009-01-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

I come from a very-much-practicing Irish/Czech Catholic family on my dad's side, and though I am an atheist, I have always been fascinated and comforted by mass. I go very, very rarely, but I love the solemn voices speaking in unison, the warm colors of the church, and most of all the repetition of ritual and feeling a part of something so old. I know it may seem hypocritical for me to enjoy church, being a non-believer, but I think the abovementioned things are almost more important than what is being taught. It also makes me feel closer to the culture of my ancestors. Weird as it may sound. Anyway, here's all you could ever want to know about Catholic mass.

Interesting facts about barbers.

2009-01-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

They were surgeons, medicine men, and priests... I had no idea. Be enlightened with The History of Barbering.

I'm rather glad I'm not a lady squid.

2009-01-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

Squids have really strange sex.

Musical interlude

2009-01-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

John's Children during the short period when Marc Bolan was in the band. His backing vocals kind of make the song for me.

Meteor shower tonight

2009-01-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

Look north after midnight to see the Quadrantids. I know it's colder than a well driller's behind out there, but it should be worth it. More info here and here.

Long time no post

2009-01-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

I've been moving and doing the holiday thing and being sick and not having much to post at the moment, but I'll be back with more interesting things soon.

Better to be used in art than mouldering in the ground

2008-12-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

Neil Gaiman linked to this interesting innovation a few days ago on his blog. Apparently you can now purchase pencils made from the ashes of your deceased loved one.

Tick Tock

2008-12-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

Clocks are fascinating. Especially in the world of Nosferatu.

Unconventional perfumery

2008-12-18T23:44:00.000-08:00

I love perfumery. I make my own scents at home from time to time, though I've yet to build as big an oil collection as I'd like. Le Parfumeur Rebelle is a really cool resource for DIY perfumers and people who want to buy from them.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab makes some very intriguing scents, though I haven't had the pleasure of personally sniffing them yet. Their catalogue is massive. And they have very creative collections, like the Neil Gaiman series benefitting the CBLDF.

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Sherlock

2008-12-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been getting quite into the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, and found this extremely comprehensive website.

Lots of macabre and beautiful things...

2008-12-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

... for you to peruse and purchase at Madame Talbot's.

Holidays... IN SPACE!

2008-12-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

Movie news!

2008-12-18T20:37:00.001-08:00

Finally, a film I'm excited about--Coraline, based on the novel by one of my very favourite authors, Neil Gaiman!!

The Queen of the Theremin

2008-12-18T20:29:00.001-08:00

Uh... it's a valid request, I suppose.

2008-12-18T11:59:00.001-08:00

Riskay Feat Aviance & Real - Smell Yo Dick [NEW]
by PeteRock

Hmm...

2008-12-16T18:32:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure why, but pretty much all baseball players from the 70s, with mustaches, remind me of my dad. He never even played baseball, at least not since little league.

Gruff and Bunf in somebody's kitchen.

2008-12-16T18:12:00.001-08:00

This will make you wish you lived in LA.

2008-12-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

If you like massages from gladiators, that is.

This is bizarre.

2008-12-15T19:52:00.001-08:00

But the animals are cute, and it's not their fault they have to live with the Bushs.

Note: I just watched it again and for some reason it's really hilarious how Jenna puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable in "you better GET started." Maybe my brain is tired.

Holy hole in a donut!

2008-12-15T12:56:00.001-08:00

I lied. About not blogging for awhile. I can't help myself.
And this amused my poor, ravaged brain.

Probably no blogs for a while...

2008-12-14T20:55:00.001-08:00

The next couple of days are going to be taken up by exams and finishing papers, and the rest of the week by packing and moving. That's all a hassle and not particularly fun, but after Wednesday I'll officially have my Bachelor's Degree in English and by Saturday I'll be moved back to Madison for good, though of no fixed abode of my own. I'm really looking forward to being done with school, which at times has seemed like a total load of bollocks and perhaps even a waste of time. Though if I never came I wouldn't have met most of my very best friends, and I suppose I did learn quite a bit, so it goes both ways. I certainly will not miss pointless, mandatory, bullshit classes like "physical fitness assessment" and math (not that math's pointless, but in the context of my degree it was unnecessary).

I'm very tired from studying and driving and moving boxes of junk around so I'm babbling and I should stop.

See you on the brighter side of the week.

This song is very often stuck in my head.

2008-12-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

Some of my very favourite lyrics. So manic and compulsive. Fantastic.

Gloves, The Horrors

Today I found a baby's glove
Lying on the drainage board so still
Yesterday a leather glove from the slim fingered hand of a woman
The next time I saw one it was lying half frozen and twisted on the curb
And I couldn't take it
Now I have my own private collection
All lined in rows when you open up the wardrobe doors
Now I have no room for my obsession
Lined up and labelled in neat little packets
The next time I saw one it stuck inside my head and became all that I could think about
And through wax seals and padlocks... A hand through my ribcage
Past the choking
I saw palms and fingers grasping shoulders...collarbone...crushing
I imagined myself hacking desperately at a sea of appendages, forward and right
Freeing myself like a butcher, feeling the mash of bone and sinew
Running slowly down the front of my body...

And I couldn't take it any more

I said, I've got to go, I've got to get out of here, and I ran down the street, I've got to get out of here, I've got to go

Sadness.

2008-12-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

Goodbye, Bettie Page.

Happy holidays from Mars

2008-12-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Lots of new art...

2008-12-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

... over at Butchering Paper, if you care to look.

A message from the animals

2008-12-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

A real cat burgler

2008-12-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

It's pretty funny.

For those that need to know...

2008-12-08T21:08:00.001-08:00

... here's how you can make your own fake blood.

Old school Elastica.

2008-12-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of stealing her haircut...

I'm pretty much in love with Justine Frischmann.

2008-12-08T17:08:00.001-08:00

Siouxsie is pretty neato.

2008-12-08T17:05:00.001-08:00

This is indeed one happy Moog.

2008-12-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

A page from the black book

2008-12-07T19:42:00.001-08:00

I'm starting a separate blog for drawings from my sketchbook. I hope you will join me there as well.

Playing with my new camera 2

2008-12-07T19:38:00.001-08:00

Playing with my new camera

2008-12-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

This is really cool.

2008-12-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's the world's oldest living tortoise!

I love Bill Bailey, too.

2008-12-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

Foreign sirens...

Medieval porn...

American rock...

Wales national dish...

Crispian and Alonza always amuse me.

2008-12-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

Psychedelic jam?

2008-12-04T01:55:00.000-08:00

Not like raspberry jam with LSD in it, but just a good old fashioned creativecollaborativejamathon. I think it'd be good fun, especially since I haven't played anything in a long time. I'll bring a shitty Casiotone and a guitar and pedals (and some beer) if you've got friends and a place to play. We could invite everyone to do their thing, be it video, drawing, dance, whatever. Let's have a big ol' drunken art party.

Holy crap do I love Wall-E

2008-12-03T23:36:00.001-08:00

Wee Simon Amstell

2008-12-03T23:23:00.001-08:00

Awesome.

2008-12-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

You may know that I love octopi.
If you do, then you know I love this.

Bust magazine

2008-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Bust pisses me off because it claims to be a feminist magazine, but I just can't reconcile that with the fact that there's not a single fat woman in an entire issue, everyone's white, and most everything they advertise is made for thin people or ridiculously expensive. Discuss.

I kinda, like, really want this.

2008-12-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

A totally bitching, solder-free analog theremin kit.
Alas, I am poor, and even though bidding starts at a dollar, who knows what it will go up to, plus shipping and all that. So my question is, does anyone know where to get something like this locally, like when I actually have some damn money?

The Monks

2008-12-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

A bunch of Americans with friar haircuts that made some of the most weird and innovative music of the 60s.

The Enigma of Bruno S.

2008-12-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

After a night of Herzog movies starring Mr. Bruno S., and Lisa's mention of him being quite interesting, I looked him up online and found this brief biography and some of his paintings. Fascinating stuff.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

2008-12-01T23:03:00.001-08:00

Is it weird that I think he's sort of hot?
I'm kind of in love with him.
Good casting, Mr. Herzog

Interesting

2008-12-01T16:04:00.001-08:00

I just read somewhere that one of my very favourite poets, Siegfried Sassoon, was gay, which makes me like him even better. Who knows if it's true, but this is my favourite poem of all time:

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.
In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

--Siegfried Sassoon

Death at the Chapel

2008-12-01T16:02:00.001-08:00

A very young Nick Cave...

2008-12-01T14:30:00.001-08:00

... in his first (?) band, The Boys Next Door.

Arty business

2008-12-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

Faris Badwan, singer of The Horrors, is an incredible artist. His doodles are more intricate than most full scale works. Strange, dark, and manic, his drawings look a bit like The Horrors sound.

Style Icons

2008-11-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

--The Horrors

Like an Edward Gorey cartoon. I particularly enjoy the ensembles of...

--Mr. Rhys "Spider" Webb, keyboardist of The Horrors.

I've long admired his authenic 60s goth/mod look. He looks like he could have walked directly out of ? and the Mysterians. I love the drainpipes, scarves, vests, and winklepickers, and sincerely wish more men put a little... panache?... in their wardrobes (and actually wore clothes that fit... and got rid of those big ugly white athletic shoes).

--Mr. Carl Barat, former singer and guitarist of The Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things

The disheveled and reckless rebel, with flair. Skinny jeans, Cuban heels or brogues, stripes, undone ties, suspenders, slim suits... Classic British rocker style mixed with a bit of mod. Delicious.

--Ms. Justine Frischmann

I adore Justine. She just exudes cool. The black, the androgyny, the totally awesome wedge cut, the often-present sneer... she's just badass.

--Mr. Nick Cave

He looks like he climbed out of a dumpster behind Jack the Ripper's house. He's pretty much the master. What else can you say? He's the original.

It's Heino

2008-11-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

Ja... it's Heino.

Weirdness at home

2008-11-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

So somebody busted in the front driver's side window of my car sometime between Wednesday night and 5:30 today. That really sucks. Because it's cold out. And it's nice to have a window. They just seemed to rifle through stuff and didn't really take anything except for, strangely enough, the cheap plastic cupholder thing sitting on the floor-hump between the front seats. Weird, huh? If you know anyone who went around breaking into cars on the western edge of Madison over the past couple of days, tell them they're an asshole.

Black bile

2008-11-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Those medieval folk were very humorous. Get it?

A double dose of artiness

2008-11-29T10:19:00.000-08:00

Kelly Vivanco creates some gorgeous, surreal, dreamy art.

I'm also a big fan of Jason Limon and his adorable robots.

Little Marcy has come to haunt your dreams.

2008-11-29T01:50:00.000-08:00

It makes you go nuts.

2008-11-29T01:39:00.000-08:00

I didn't know lead was so popular amongst the Romans.

New Nick Cave novel

2008-11-29T01:14:00.000-08:00

Nick Cave is following up my very favourite book of all time, And the Ass Saw the Angel, with The Death of Bunny Munro due in September 2009. Yesss.

Windigo psychosis

2008-11-29T00:50:00.000-08:00

So a hot guy from Canada did his thesis on Windigo psychosis and whether it's a culturally bound mental disorder, schizophrenia, or something else. This was in 2005, but it's still interesting, especially after the occurrence of cannibalism on a Canadian Greyhound earlier in the year. Living in the upper midwest we're rather close to the home of the mythical Windigo (or Wendigo), and it's really fascinating how the myth was a sort of personification of the harsh northern winter and its consequences (the Windigo itself is sort of like a being of pure frostbite, emaciated and cannibalistic). You can get to know the Windigo better here.

Link dump

2008-11-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

Unusual Architecture

How to Have a Seance: Tricks of Fraudulant Mediums from The Haunted Museum

Science vs. Seance at the American Photography Museum

Mysterious People

History of Shock Therapy

Monstropedia

L'Inconnue de la Seine

2008-11-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

This is a strange story. A girl was found drowned in the Seine, never identified, but thought so beautiful by those that saw her body that a death mask was made. The mask led a life of its own. But there'd be no point in posting the link if I told you the whole thing... so go read.

Dreadful Music Moment

2008-11-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here's Screaming Lord Sutch. He was a real loony.

Oscillators and octopi

2008-11-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

Read all about Wendy Carlos' magnificent Circon. You can hear it on the score to Kubrick's The Shining.

Then there's the Trautonium, one of the first analog synthesizers.

Here's a little video on how analog synthesizers and oscillators work. I still don't completely get it, but it's quite interesting.

If anyone knows how to read the schematics, you can build yourself a theremin. Make me one, too, if you have time.

Also, here's a weird octopus.

Okay, I lied.

2008-11-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

I'm still blogging. It's like smack and crack combined.

So Pete Fowler, designer of much Super Furry Animals artwork and a plethora of toys and other good stuff, has a new blog. I'm quite fond of the new Mighty Boosh toys he's got for sale.

And if you don't know about the Mighty Boosh, get the skinny here. If you like jazz mavericks and electroboys and laughing and bright colours and really bizarre and surreal storylines, you'll like the Boosh. The Horrors have even been on the Boosh, as well as Gary Numan.

I will probably be back later. I have things to attend to at the moment.

Going on holiday

2008-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

There will be scant if any posts over the holiday as I'll be running all over central and southwest Wisconsin, but I wish you all a lovely day of gluttony and Tofurkey, and leave you with a little voodoo jive by Mr. Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

Dreadful Music Moment

2008-11-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

An amazing video by one of my favourite bands, The Horrors. The animation is incredible.

The Strange Story of Joe Meek

2008-11-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched this in its entirety yet, but I'm sure it will prove to be quite interesting.

Link Dump

2008-11-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

Opacity -- Beautiful photos of abandoned buildings, mainly old asylums.

Feral Children -- Very comprehensive site detailing virtually all of the reported cases, real and fraudulent, of "wild" children (those that have grown up with little to no human contact, whether due to confinement, isolation in the wilderness, or being brought up as part of an animal group).

Victoriana -- Victorian life behind closed doors.

Coast to Coast AM -- Late night radio program filled with quacks, weirdos, conspiracy theories, ghost stories, and other entertaining things.

Collection of Life and Death Masks -- I've always wondered what Robert Burns' skull looked like...

Art and Medicine -- Wonderful antique photos and descriptions, and why we shouldn't shy away from the face of disease and anomaly.

Tesla: Master of Lightning -- Nifty site on Nikola Tesla from PBS.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop -- Pioneers in electronic music (like the totally awesome Dr. Who theme).

Vítejte. Welkom. Welcome.

2008-11-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

So this be the first post.

I admit that I jumped on the wagon right on Lisa's heels after I saw how great her blog was, but hey, she had a good idea :) Check out Outta Bubblegum and you won't be disappointed.

Here in the Emporium you will find a compedium of the bizzare, grotesque, obscure, silly, beautiful and strange.

I hope you will you enjoy discovering the weird and satiating your ever-ticking curiosity with me.

Toodle pip!