Happy Halloween!

Photographer unknown, via R is for Raven.

The Month in Books : October

This month I read about vampires, the Spanish Inquisition, horrific fairy tales, murderers, and zombies. Do you sense a theme? :) Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I couldn't help but choose similarly spirited books for this month. If you like spooky stories as much as I do, hopefully you'll find something below to add to your bedside table.

You can see all of my reviews on Book Wit, or click on the links below. Enjoy!

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

City of Silver by Annamaria Alfieri

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Betty Grable, via Awesome People Reading.

The Remake Photo Project

Submissions for the BOOOOOOOM & Adobe Photoshop Remake photo project, in which artists remade famous masterpieces using photography for the chance to win £10,000. This is such a brilliant idea, and I love that the artists took the opportunity to inject some humor into these classic works. The Death of Marat with a laptop? Yes, please!

Originally spotted on Art Hound. More submissions can be seen on BOOOOOOOM.

From the top: “La bonne foi” remake by Noemi Mazzucchelli; “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” remake by Avi Naim; “David and Goliath” remake by Miguel Iturbe; “Olympia” remake by Bruna Pelissari; “Primavera” remake by Lucille Lawrence; “The Death of Marat” remake by Ewa Wiktoria Dyszlewicz.

Mechanical Dolls

If Tim Walker's shoot for the October issue of Vogue Italia doesn't get you in the mood for some Halloween chills, then nothing will. This gets my vote as one of the eeriest editorials I've seen in quite a while, as well as one of the more creative. The application of doll parts to seemingly extend human limbs or blur the line between what is human and what is machine is remarkable. Nothing exudes creepy quite like an anthropomorphic mechanical doll, no?

Mechanical Dolls by Tim Walker for Vogue Italia, via Fashion Gone Rogue.

Autumn Incarnate

This looks like the perfect fall day to me. The colorful leaves transform the sidewalk into such a wonderland!

Photographs by Wilma of Taking the scene in my crazy dream.

Round Dreams

Whimsical mixed media works by Ana Raimundo, all available in her shop, fric de mentol.

From the top: Drop Fish 4; Hide-and-Seek Tree I; Halloween Tree - Arvore dos Finados; Connected Dream III.

Cake With Giants

These illustrations by Amy Borrell are beyond charming. Check out more at her shop, Cake With Giants.

A Music Mix: This Fall

It's started to get cooler here in Texas (finally!), and I thought the season change deserved some new music. This Fall is mostly a mix of what I've been listening to lately, which is heavy on the electronica due to my instant appreciation for/obsession with the Drive soundtrack. I could seriously buy another ticket, sit in the theatre with my eyes closed, and still have an incredible experience with that film. Therefore, there are a lot of Drive-esque tracks here. There is also some creepy stuff with us being so close to Halloween (hello, GreensKeepers) and a few other things I have been listening to on almost permanent repeat. The Gotye song is one in particular. I just can not get enough it! Do you ever have that experience with certain songs? Where they crawl inside your mind and the only thing that will satisfy you is one more listen? That seems to happen to me all the time.

I uploaded my mix onto 8tracks, where you can listen to it at your leisure. Enjoy!

This Fall

When You Were Mine - Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele

Transformers - Futurecop!

Close to You - The Avalanches

Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

Iwywaw (TEEEL Remix) - Com Truise

Femme L'a Dit - Feufollet

Hollywood Freaks - Beck

Lotion - GreensKeepers

Rich Girl - Hall & Oates

Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye featuring Kimbra

Teenage Color (Anoraak Remix) - College

Mouthful of Diamonds - Phantogram

I Found You - Alabama Shakes

Some Velvet Morning - Primal Scream

Halloween Dishes

These spider web ceramics from Village Clayworks are just begging to be filled with candy.

Adrian Ghenie

The dark, moody work of Adrian Ghenie is the type that makes you step closer, lean in, and wonder if you're actually seeing what you think you're seeing. Jagged shards of light or the wash of fluorescent bulbs illuminate scenes that could alternately be chilling or innocent. A man clawing at his melting face horrifies... until you see that the title of the piece is Pie Fight Study 2. These pieces play with the power of suggestion on the edge of a knife. The darkened hallways and neglected rooms could be just that. But given what time of year it is, I think you can guess which way my mind prefers to go.

From the top: Pie Fight Study 2 (2008); Babe in the Woods (2008); The Kiss (2007); Dada is Dead (2009); Crawl Under the Desk... (2007).

Those Boots

Hey, remember those awesome boots I mentioned a couple weeks ago? Well, I took the liberty of checking for you, and guess what? They are still awesome. No, it was my pleasure. Happy to stare at them hungrily any time.

And just in case you were wondering, their siblings are pretty great, too.

Boots by No. 6.

Creature Features

Some pulpy horror movie posters to brighten up your morning.

Sources, clockwise from the top left: Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (1961); The Bride of Frankenstein (1935); Twins of Dracula (1971); Horror of Frankenstein (1970); Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954); The Mole People (1956); Night of Terror (1933); The Curse of the Cat People (1944); The Body Snatcher (1945); Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

"...the silver pepper of the stars."

Ralph Lauren's creations for spring belong at one of Gatsby's parties up in West Egg. It's hard to imagine anything more glamourous than these slinky silhouettes and Art Deco beadwork, no?

Photographs via Style.com.

Two Paintcans

This painting came up in my Tumblr feed a few weeks ago, and I've kept coming back to stare at it since then. There is something contemplative about the drips of paint and the blocky, reflective surface of the cans. It suggests both accomplishment and the anticipation of future projects, two things I've been trying to keep in mind while I search for a more permanent place.

Two Paintcans by Wayne Thiebaud (1987), via Cave to Canvas.

Hypnotic Geometry

The work of Andy Gilmore manages to look both methodically plotted and dizzyingly organic. I'm not sure of the scale of the original pieces (his prints come in 11" x 14" and 16" x 20"), but can you imagine how magically disorienting they would be if they were enormous?

From the top: 8-11-2009; 11-9-2009; 10-10-2011; 9-30-2011; 11-5-2010.

Retro Thrills

As time goes by looks more like a collection of promotional stills for a noir chiller than a fashion spread, which is as sure a guarantee as can you get for my immediate love and attention. Crystal Renn brings a definite edge to this Hayworth-Hepburn-Crawford inspired editorial for Vogue Germany, happily making it far spookier than the run-of-the-mill "classic Hollywood" shoot (must be the Crawford influence...).

Photographs by Sebastian Kim for Vogue Germany, via Fashion Gone Rogue.