Coming Attractions for November!

by Anna Campbell

Wow, November is rockin' in the lair! We've shipped in extra cabana boys to cope with the extra strain on the bar!

We've got guests and giveaways galore and not one, but TWO infamous launch parties (yeah, you can see why we need extra staff!).

And don't forget, if you click on any of the covers, you go straight to Amazon!

First cab off the rank (such an elegant cab - clearly a Jaguar!) is fabulous historical romance author Sarah MacLean who will be my guest on Tuesday, 2nd November.

Sarah burst onto the historical romance scene this year with her fantabulous NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE. She's visiting us to talk about her November book TEN WAYS TO BE ADORED WHEN LANDING A LORD. Love the titles, Sarah!

Sarah is a load of fun (and she's doing a giveaway) so don't miss her visit.

On November 3rd, Jessica Andersen returns as the newest installment in the Nightkeepers saga launches. BLOOD SPELLS is Patience and Brandt's story. In their honor, Jessica will discuss "After the HEA" with us. She may also have a Big Surprise for us.



On 4th November, Caridad Pineiro visits the Banditas to celebrate the publication of her 25th release – STRONGER THAN SIN from Grand Central Publishing. This is the second in Caridad's Sin series. We like a bit of sin in the lair so that should be huge fun!














On Friday, 5th November, a dear friend of mine Emily May (who also writes brilliant fantasy romance as Emily Gee) will be here to talk about her latest Regency romance, THE UNMASKING OF A LADY. Emily is coming to the lair all the way from New Zealand and she'll be talking about her two identities and giving away a signed copy of her book.








On 9th November, Nancy will host Julie Kenner/J.K. Beck in the lair. Julie is here to talk about her latest series of vampire romances, WHEN BLOOD CALLS, WHEN PLEASURE RULES and especially her latest release WHEN WICKED CRAVES. Sounds like something the Banditas and their Buddies can get their teeth into! Oh, I do love the chance for a good meaty vampire joke!












On November 11th we have the lovely Donna Grant talking to us about her fabulous, pulse-pounding paranormal Scottish historical Dark Sword series. Her latest release is WICKED HIGHLANDER - ooh, I can see myself being wicked with him!












Aussie contemporary romance author Kandy Shepherd returns to the lair on Tuesday, 16th November, to talk about her wonderful new book HOME IS WHERE THE BARK IS. People who loved LOVE IS A FOUR-LEGGED WORD will adore this story about an FBI agent who gets involved unwillingly in a doggy daycare center. Kandy will be doing a giveaway!







On the 20th November, we have the first of our Bandita launches for the month. RITA winner and one of my favorite authors Beth Andrews lets her latest release A MARINE FOR CHRISTMAS loose in the lair. Swing by for mayhem and margaritas.

Here's the blurb:

It’s a wonderful life…?

Growing up in her perfect sister’s shadow wasn’t easy. Especially because JC Montgomery had been in love with Liz’s boyfriend for as long as she could remember. Brady Sheppard, a a guy who thought of her as only the kid sister. But that all changed when Liz married somebody else and Brady ended up in bed with JC! It was like a dream come true.


Except now JC’s pregnant. And Brady’s a wounded marine, so it’s going to be difficult for him to get down on one knee and tell her she’s his reason for living…But he will. Because she still believes in Santa Claus.

For 21st November we have a delicious treat for all you historical lovers. Delightful debut author Kieran Kramer is chatting with us about her Impossible Bachelor series. WHEN HARRY MET MOLLY, the first instalment in the series, hits the shelves this month.







To finish the month (11/30), we have another fabulous Bandita release to celebrate (oh, my poor aching cabana boys!). Tawny Weber's novella A BABE IN TOYLAND is out from Blaze in an anthology called IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE MISTLETOE... (Yeah, right!).

Here's the blurb:

They’re going to have a hot, hot Christmas...

The weather outside might be frightful—
but the Cole sisters are indulging in
something quite delightful...

Rita Mae Cole and Tyler Ramsey hail from feuding
families. Be together? Impossible. But the incredible
sex between them says otherwise....


After the huge success of my last contest where I gave away a pile of signed books, I'm doing it all again in my latest website contest. The question is really easy. Other than English, please name three languages in which my books are available. You might just find the answer on this page of my website. I'll choose TWO winners at random and those lucky entrants will receive signed copies of:

MY RECKLESS SURRENDER by Anna Campbell
DARK AND DEADLY by Jeanne Adams
NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE by Sarah MacLean
THE WICKED MARQUIS by Miranda Neville
PROOF BY SEDUCTION by Courtney Milan
Either WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON or THE DUKE AND I by Julia Quinn

Good luck! The contest closes 30th November, 2010. Email your answers to anna@annacampbell.info For more information, please visit my contest page.

Looking For Miniature Figures For The Dying Earth RPG

I have several packs of miniatures from the Foundry. They have quite a few miniatures that would fit into a swash buckling milieu such as Dying Earth RPG.

Anyone know of some other lines of miniatures the combines foppish outfits and hats with swashbuckling weapons?

Looking For Miniature Figures For The Dying Earth RPG

I have several packs of miniatures from the Foundry. They have quite a few miniatures that would fit into a swash buckling milieu such as Dying Earth RPG.

Anyone know of some other lines of miniatures the combines foppish outfits and hats with swashbuckling weapons?

This is Halloween!

Radio Riel wishes you all a Happy All Hallow's Eve and Samhain by playing a special holiday program today. This morning, afternoon and early evening you will hear a variety of creepy Classical and Contemporary music to get you in the "spirit" of the day! As night falls, the program will transition to a celebration of Samhain.

Samhain (1 Nov.), the first day of winter and one of the four traditional ‘quarter days’, important in the calender customs of Goidelic‐speaking areas up to the present century. The eve of Samhain was believed to be a time of supernatural occurrences: according to medieval sources the dwellings of the fairies were revealed, and modern folklore associates the night with divination and the dead. The name appears to contain the element sam‐ ‘summer’, perhaps alluding to a belief in the inversion of other‐worldly time.

("Samhain." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (October 31, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-Samhain.html)

gullar sahir produces this program in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the program now at http://main.radioriel.org. Today's music originates from the music library of Gabrielle Riel.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Gary Gygax On Jack Vance And The Dying Earth

"The Dying Earth is a marvelous, dark far-future world setting. The earth is no longer our world, just as the sun is no longer the Old Sol we see. It is a planet so ancient that its earlier history has been lost and forgotten. Of the later ages, a staggeringly long series of epics, information is revealed only in tantalizing snippets. All of its places are striking in that they are strange yet somehow familiar, and there is no question that something startling and new will be revealed at each turn. To my thinking, this milieu is creative far beyond the bounds of what has been offered in any material previously written....

In considering the Dying Earth milieu, one must be prepared to accept some differences between it and the standard world of fantasy derring-do. While much has been forgotten, the whole of the race of mankind has matured and grown ancient and cynical. Naivete there is aplenty, but behind it there is cynicism, duplicity, and treachery ... So the milieu is one where Machiavelli would be considered the norm in civilized places, while in the hinterlands the oddest of things are to be expected....

Does this mean that the Dying Earth can not expect some altruism, bravery, even a sense of wonder in its leading characters? Hardly! While such are rare enough here and now to be remarkable, these traits are definitely human, will persist as long as Homo sapiens in whatever evolved form remain extant. The trick to survival for such individuals on the Dying Earth must be cunning....

The Dying Earth is the perfect place for a sophisticated, whimisical, and enthralling fantasy campaign. It can be on virtually any scale, and feature whatever the participant group enjoys most. Combat and magic? Of course. The same is true of story and intrigue. To be forthright, the milieu is so broad as to invite any and all aspects of the RPG into play, and those in whatever mix and degree of emphasis is desired. Simply put, the Dying Earth milieu is just about a perfect one to transfer from fiction to game. The caveat is, don't think along 'conventional' fantasy lines. It is a place where long ages have altered things, even magic and the human archetype to some degree."

-- Gary Gygax, "Jack Vance and the D&D Game", from The Excellent Prismatic Spray, Volume 1, Issue 2

Gary Gygax On Jack Vance And The Dying Earth

"The Dying Earth is a marvelous, dark far-future world setting. The earth is no longer our world, just as the sun is no longer the Old Sol we see. It is a planet so ancient that its earlier history has been lost and forgotten. Of the later ages, a staggeringly long series of epics, information is revealed only in tantalizing snippets. All of its places are striking in that they are strange yet somehow familiar, and there is no question that something startling and new will be revealed at each turn. To my thinking, this milieu is creative far beyond the bounds of what has been offered in any material previously written....

In considering the Dying Earth milieu, one must be prepared to accept some differences between it and the standard world of fantasy derring-do. While much has been forgotten, the whole of the race of mankind has matured and grown ancient and cynical. Naivete there is aplenty, but behind it there is cynicism, duplicity, and treachery ... So the milieu is one where Machiavelli would be considered the norm in civilized places, while in the hinterlands the oddest of things are to be expected....

Does this mean that the Dying Earth can not expect some altruism, bravery, even a sense of wonder in its leading characters? Hardly! While such are rare enough here and now to be remarkable, these traits are definitely human, will persist as long as Homo sapiens in whatever evolved form remain extant. The trick to survival for such individuals on the Dying Earth must be cunning....

The Dying Earth is the perfect place for a sophisticated, whimisical, and enthralling fantasy campaign. It can be on virtually any scale, and feature whatever the participant group enjoys most. Combat and magic? Of course. The same is true of story and intrigue. To be forthright, the milieu is so broad as to invite any and all aspects of the RPG into play, and those in whatever mix and degree of emphasis is desired. Simply put, the Dying Earth milieu is just about a perfect one to transfer from fiction to game. The caveat is, don't think along 'conventional' fantasy lines. It is a place where long ages have altered things, even magic and the human archetype to some degree."

-- Gary Gygax, "Jack Vance and the D&D Game", from The Excellent Prismatic Spray, Volume 1, Issue 2

It's Spooooooktacular!!!!

by Jeanne Adams, AKA The Halloween Maven

Let me start by saying those immortal words...no not THOSE words...these words:

HAPPY
HALLOWEEEEEEEEN!!!!!

There, now that we have that out of the way, I want to talk about pumpkins.

And Witches.

Not more, you ask? Not warlocks, or mad scientists, or rubber-masked villains or superheroes?

Nope. Pumpkins and Witches.

Before I begin, however, I will be making a large disclaimer, note of excusement, proviso, etc. which says, in large letters: THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL BLOG post, nor should it be construed as such.

Ahem. Now that we have that out of the way....

A recent comment by a candidate which went something like this (I'm paraphrasing): "I'm not a witch, I'm just like you"

This actually made me laugh out loud. Really. Right there in my living room, I was having a snork-fest.

The woman in the ad is wearing a twin-set and pearls, is gently coiffed and well groomed. The only thing she apparently has in common with any witch I know is that she's wearing black. But a lot of people wear black and look quite good in it. Doesn't make them a witch.

So, I laughed. I'm sure many people did because she's not what most people think when they think "witch" - seriously, do you immediatly think sweater-set and pearls, when someone says, "She's such a witch!"?

Hollywood portrays witches as both good and bad - its actually very even handed these days - in movies like Practical Magic (good witches, fabulous love story), Hocus Pocus (bad witches, engaging story), Bewitched (good witch, bad movie, great tv show), and The Witches of Eastwick (good witches, bad warlock).

Seriously, you wouldn't ever think of Sandra Bullock as a traditional Bad Witch. Sandra? REALLY? Nope. The image just won't form.

Cher was pretty cool as a witch too, in Witches of Eastwick, as were Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Buffy, while technically not a witch, had one as a friend and hey, every Slayer needs a witch-y pal, right?

I've met many a witch, and you and I could meet one every day for a year and never find one who was haggle-haired, snaggle-toothed, muttering or otherwise behaving in typically wicked-witchy fashion. Most of them don't even like pointy black hats, or cooking in cast iron pots. Nor do they have an odd penchant for brooms for that matter. While even witches can have the occasional cranky day, most real, modern witches only mutter darkly whilst in the grocery store as they try to remember that third item on their list. They may cook in cast iron if they're Southern and like cornbread, or they may even wear a pointy hat, for Halloween.

Just a note on the hat thing? Those things give you a wicked case of hat-head, and they are SO 13th century, you know? Snork.

However, the point is, Witches, like pumpkins, come in all shapes and sizes.

There are anime witches, pin-up witches, old witches, young witches, running witches, cooking witches, witches who like cats, and witches who are deathly allergic to them. There are thin witches, fat witches, and witches who need dialysis, chemotherapy, or their daily dose of insulin.

It occurred to me as I was drafting this blog that except for the medical stuff and the allergies, you could substitute the word "Pumpkin" in there and get the same result. Pumpkins, like people (and witches) come in all shapes and sizes. Big, little, tall, thing, skinny, fat, and every shade of orange, white, green and reddish brown you can imagine. They still have seeds, they still have slimey guts, and through and through, no matter how they look or what their color, they're pumpkins, people and witches.

I think it's a DNA thing. If you need further clarification, we can call in the mad scientists. Snork.

That said, it has amazed me to see the sheer artistry of the pumpkin carvers today. From the simple to the masterfully complex, pumpkin carving has been elevated to an artform. There are gruesome pumpkins, Obama pumpkins, puking pumkins, haunting pumpkins, happy pumpkins and pumpkins that appear to be suffering from post-traumatic-carving symptoms.

Now why, you ask, would this occur to me now? Why would I juxtapose all this nonsense in my fevered, writer's brain??

Blame Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Seriously.

Their rally was this weekend here in DC and several friends went to it, and the news made great fun with it. One photo showed a woman with a sign that said "Keep Your Laws Off My Cauldron" Another was carrying a carved pumpkin head and a sign that said "Zombies for Colbert, Keep Fear Alive."

Still another said, "My Witch is Bigger."

Not sure if that last one was meant to be a compliment, a warning, or some kind of personal statement, but the drawing was very cool. Ha!

Now I know that you're wondering if I overspiked the Halloween punch - totally possible, btw - to bring all this together to be comparing pumpkins, witches, Snoopy, and the First Amendment (which guarantees Freedom of Religion and the press), but that's John Stewart for you. (For those of you outside the US, who have no idea who these people are, they're comedians and they staged a rally in Washington to "Restore Sanity" - Jon Stewart; and to "Return to Fear" - Stephen Colbert. It turned up a massive attendance.)

Everything's all mashed up and somehow, even Charlie Brown and witchcraft are part of the political agenda. It's very Comedy Central, don't you think?

Me, personally, I VOTE FOR Pumpkins. I think we should all buy them, carve them, cook them into pies, cakes, cookies, rolls, jam and otherwise generally enjoy the heck out of the big orange/green/white fruits that they are.

(Yes, they really ARE fruits because they have seeds.) Grins.

As for witches, I think we should respect them, just like we respect all our neighbors, whether they be tall, thin, fat, short, green, pink, purple, or even orange. And several of my neighbors were all of those colors at my Halloween party this weekend.

And, in the immortal words of three fabulously Hollywood Witches, I'll wrap this Halloween craziness up:

"My darling girl, when are you going to understand that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of Courage." - Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing), Practical Magic

"There's a little Witch in Every Woman..." - Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest), Practical Magic

"AMOK! AMOK! AMOK!" - Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker), Hocus Pocus

So, Have you seen any of the witchy movies I mentioned? Do you have a favorite?

Did you carve pumpkins this year? Happy or sad, scary or gruesome?

How many pumpkins did you carve? I did seven this year....

Did you go to the Colbert/Stewart march? If you lived closer, would you have gone? Did you see it on the news?

Are you afraid of Zombies? Grins.

(Had to see if you were still awake....)

Happy Halloweeeeeeen! Let me know if you're going trick-or-treating too...

Diablo: Claustrophobia And Fear

I was on hiatus from Dungeons and Dragons during the 1990's, so I was only vaguely aware of the TSR death-spiral, ascent of Magic: the Gathering, and eventual sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast.

Most of my game-time was filled with computer games, my favorite being the original Diablo, released sometime around 1997.

This game scared the crap out of me. I seem to recall that the backstory was revealed intermittently throughout the game, and so for me it was a game of discovery, albeit a rather bloody, monster-laden one. I loved that there were dark shadows around the edges of the screen, and that the music instilled a sense of dread, horror and foreboding. The game-play was very claustrophobia-inducing.

I never got into Diablo II. Some of the mystery of the original Diablo was lost. It may have been the different music, or the fact that you knew what to expect, having played the original Diablo, but Diablo II didn't give me the pulse-pounding experience of fear that I got from the original game.

How does Diablo relate to old-school gaming? Like Diablo, part of the fun of role-playing games is not knowing what is going on, having incomplete information, not knowing if the monster is killable or not, and not knowing whether or not you will survive.

Diablo: Claustrophobia And Fear

I was on hiatus from Dungeons and Dragons during the 1990's, so I was only vaguely aware of the TSR death-spiral, ascent of Magic: the Gathering, and eventual sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast.

Most of my game-time was filled with computer games, my favorite being the original Diablo, released sometime around 1997.

This game scared the crap out of me. I seem to recall that the backstory was revealed intermittently throughout the game, and so for me it was a game of discovery, albeit a rather bloody, monster-laden one. I loved that there were dark shadows around the edges of the screen, and that the music instilled a sense of dread, horror and foreboding. The game-play was very claustrophobia-inducing.

I never got into Diablo II. Some of the mystery of the original Diablo was lost. It may have been the different music, or the fact that you knew what to expect, having played the original Diablo, but Diablo II didn't give me the pulse-pounding experience of fear that I got from the original game.

How does Diablo relate to old-school gaming? Like Diablo, part of the fun of role-playing games is not knowing what is going on, having incomplete information, not knowing if the monster is killable or not, and not knowing whether or not you will survive.

Special Performances Today on Reverie and Dieselpunk

In addition to today's wonderful music and audio productions on gullar sahir's Main stream, we also have some special live events playing on two of our other streams!

On gullar sahir Reverie:

2:00pm - 3:00pm SLT - A live Samhain performance by Connie Lee Marie Fisher

3:30pm - 5:30pm SLT - The Winterfell Fourth Anniversary Ball, music by Gabrielle Riel

Tune in by clicking the link in the upper left corner, or by opening a media player, finding its "Open Stream" or "Open URL" option and entering: http://reverie.radioriel.org .

On gullar sahir Dieselpunk:

6:00pm - 9:00pm SLT -Halloween at the Seraph Club, music by Edward Pearse

Tune in by clicking the link in the upper left corner, or by opening a media player, finding its "Open Stream" or "Open URL" option and entering: http://dieselpunk.radioriel.org .

Music & Scary Tales for a Hallowe'en Weekend

Today, it's eerie music - with scary tales every even-numbered hour!

Mouahahahahahhhhhh! This weekend is Hallowe'en, and the delectable Miss Gabi will be playing the soundtrack for the actual day, Sunday 31st, on our Main Stream, but Elrik Merlin is kicking off the proceedings today (Saturday) to get you in the mood.

In addition to a wide and sometimes surprising collection of music during the day, varying from classical to rock and including a selection of fantasy SF TV and movie themes to boot - and of course the ZBS Radio Hour at 11am and 7pm Pacific (7pm and 3am UK time) - be sure to tune in at the top of every even-numbered hour (4am, 6am, 8am etc) to hear a "Scary Tale". They include old-time radio plays - and of course we are including the famous Orson Welles 1939 War of the Worlds, how could we not! - some presentations from that master of the macabre, Vincent Price, and readings of E F Benson ghosts stories. There's also Frederick Bradnum's classic play Private Dreams and Public Nightmares - the first BBC drama to include Radiophonic music, which led to the foundation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Today's programme is produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Today's music is presented from the music library of Elrik Merlin.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

What Won't You Do?

by Jo Robertson

When I was a young mother, I visited my sister in northern Virginia. We stopped at a gas station to fill up and she asked if I would do the honors. I did so, got back in the car, and said, "I can show you how to fill up the tank if you don't know how."

My sister is very petite. She's barely five feet tall, but incredibly independent and rather ferocious when she wants to be.

She looked hard at me and said, "Oh, Jo, I know how to fill up the gas tank. I just like to maintain the illusion that I don't, so my husband will do it for me."

Now, there's not a truly deceptive bone in my sis's body, so I -- a true California independent woman -- was amazed at her subterfuge. She claimed she had no intention of ever putting gas in her -- or any other -- car.

There were plenty of other meaningful chores to occupy her time. She's also one of the most efficiently aggressive housekeepers I've ever known, always has a well-balanced hot meal on the table (even though there are only the two of them now and no longer the four children she raised), and maintains a well-stocked food supply in her larder and freezer, lest we should be attacked by aliens and be without water and other necessities at some point in the future.

I began thinking about the things I refuse to do or conveniently allow Dr. Big to do. Here's my list:

1. Yard work -- I see no redeeming quality about ploughing my fingers into Mother Nature's bosom to dig up weeds or in pushing a lawn mower around our massive backyard. I don't like to sweat unless it's on the treadmill.

2. Change a light bulb -- Any idiot can perform this menial task, but I've learned well from my big sis and convinced Dr. Big that (a) I'm too short or (b) I'm too dim-witted to change a light bulb. However, he seems rather to enjoy this little job.

3. Run the vacuum cleaner -- This is Dr. Big's own fault. I warned him when he bought that big-ass 200 pound vacuum that I would not push it around my deep piled carpet.

4. Open the mail -- Unless the mail is addressed directly to me in someone's handwriting, I figure it's junk and belongs where all junk goes.

5. Write letters in long hand -- God made email for a good reason.

On the other hand, I love to do these things:

1. Change the paper towel dowel or toilet paper dowel with surprising regularity -- This is a very good thing because Dr. Big seems anatomically incapable of doing either.

2. Iron -- There's something very soothing about ironing although I seldom do it any more. Many of you have agreed with me on this.

3. Bake -- Bread, cakes, cookies, candy, pies, love, love, love baking, not so much with the regular cooking.

4. Clean toilets -- mainly because dirty ones gross me out.

5. Write -- Seriously, I can spend hours and hours on writing a book when the going is fluid and smooth and comes out of my brain and fingers like a gift from God. Shiver.

What about you? What's on your refuse-to-do list?

What chores do you get husband, brother, father, or son to do for you?

What household chores do you enjoy doing? Any weird hobbies or pasttimes?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy (almost) Halloween! What are your plans for the weekend? We're going out for Italian food with some friends tonight, so I'm saving my appetite for a giant piece of lasagna. And I'm excited for the Halloween parade this weekend! Toby's going to be either a wolf or a tourist. Hope you have a good one, and here are a few great posts from around the web...

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies? Yes, please!

Alphabet bookcase.

Let's go backyard camping.

Love this wedding dress.

Do you think this ponytail styling lotion really works? If so, that's genius.

Awww, such a cute print.

Rethinking sweatpants.

What a lovely wintery shot.

Ooh, I want to go on a photography getaway.

40 clever advertisements.

This beautiful bride wore this beautiful gown!

Kate Spade's adorable inspirations.

Have a good one! xo

(Photo from the new 3191 Quarterly)

Friday giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from Penelope's, a wonderful Chicago-based boutique. They're offering one lucky reader a $200 gift certificate. They carry pieces by Built by Wendy, A.P.C. Sessun, Rachel Comey, and other amazing lines, so you could get some really fabulous pieces. (I'd go for this adorable dress and some "very tight" jeans:)

For a chance to win, please visit Penelope's and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Monday. Good luck! xo

Update: Liza is our lucky winner. Thanks for playing.

Two pretty things

This agate locket.
This woven wrap.

Both for carrying your loved ones close to your heart.

Van Gogh tilt-shift

Have you guys ever seen tilt-shift photography? By playing with depth of field, it makes real cities look like miniature models (see examples here and here). Well, Serena Malyon, an art student, used Photoshop to give the same effect to Van Gogh paintings. Aren't these beautiful? See more here.

Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun

by Susan Sey

I know it isn't Halloween just yet but it's the Friday before, which means it's officially time to party like the undead.

Now if you're a kid this means the Weekend of Free Candy is upon you. Get out there & shake down the neighborhood, kiddoes!

A word of advice, though? If you can shave, drive a car or appreciate an ironic costume, you're too old to trick or treat. Same goes if you either a) want to go as a Naughty Nurse or b) have what it takes to fill out the costume. Time to move on, 'kay? Hand out candy at home, or get out there & TP the cranky neighbors. (Yes, I know I'm asking for it, but seriously, I'd rather get TP'ed than stare down the six foot tall college freshman at my door wearing a t-shirt that says, "This IS my costume.")

But I don't want to talk about kids & costumes. Today I want to talk about grown ups. Because grown ups have totally co-opted this holiday.

I'm not whining. Certainly not. I love Halloween. I met my husband at his annual Halloween bash. (He used to turn his entire basement into a haunted house every year. Then we had kids who lose sleep over movies like UP--"The talking dogs were BAD!"-- & that nonsense had to end.)

For us these days Halloween is all about dressing up our little princesses & carving smiley faces into pumpkins but one day...

...one day I want to do the Zombie Pub Crawl.

I want to dress up like the undead, parade all over town & drink like my liver really has kicked it. I can't explain this fascination with zombies. I don't normally enjoy dead things, or movies about dead things. Or movies where people make previously alive things dead.

But I thought Shaun of the Dead was one of the funniest movies I'd ever seen.

This shocked the heck out of my husband who, if he wants me to watch a scary movie, has to promise to walk me to the bathroom at any hour of the day or night, and take charge of any household chore which involves going into the basement after dark.

And Zombie Land! Oh! Comic genius! This is a movie in which Woody Harrelson (so often underestimated as an actor) watches a female zombie chowing down on some poor guy and remarks offhandedly, "There's a lady who likes her Manwich."

I cried laughing. I still chuckle every time I walk past the cans of Manwich in the grocery store.

Based on this, I feel confident it would give me no end of enjoyment to get dressed up in raggedy clothes and stagger through the streets of St. Paul in search of brains (by which I mean beer) this weekend.

How about you? What are you doing this weekend to celebrate? Are you celebrating kid- or adult-style? Any traditions? Let hear 'em!