5 Feb
2019

S.At Haute Macabre today, the collection about which I wait impatiently all year to write–our year-end Needful Things! I mean, we write seasonal versions of Needful Things too, so it’s not like it’s been a whole year since I’ve shared the stuff and things I love, but…whatever! I’m still excited to share!

2018 was a year of ugly, escalating anxiety for me; every time I thought I had a handle on my worries; they shape-shifted into a dreadful something else for me to panic about. I often got myself so worked up that I couldn’t have even told you what I was panicking about – there were just so many things plaguing me, they had begun to coalesce into a massive rat king of dread and torment.

And so my assortment of Needful Things that I share today are the small things, not even necessarily tangible things, that induced calm in my heart while the rest of my world was in turmoil; the things, however small or seemingly inconsequential, that relieved worry or distress in some small degree, or introduced a modicum of peace and stillness when everything felt like it was falling apart. The things I employed or enjoyed during this past year that made life feel, while not “fixed,” or “perfect,” but rather just…better.

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18 Dec
2018

BuryMeInBooks-by-Caitlin-McCarthy

Just in time for Jólabókaflóð* (which I am told by an actual Icelandic person, “is sort of a thing, but not really a thing”–but whatever, who needs excuses to read books on Christmas!) our Haute Macabre staff reads for the past month! 

I may have read more nonfiction in the past two months than I have in my entire life, and though I’m never going to adore the true life telling of a thing as much as I do a rousing tale of high fantasy, I have come to realize its vast importance, and it is a practice I hope to keep up with in 2019 and beyond.

* RE: Jólabókaflóð. I first began seeing mention of this in 2013 or 2014; it’s purportedly the beloved Icelandic tradition of the “Yule book flood”, wherein everyone retires to their separate corners of the home on Christmas eve to read the books they’d just gotten for Christmas. RIGHT ON. Except not so much, in my (admittedly limited) experience. My partner is Icelandic, and his mother and brothers and Icelandic; I have spent every Christmas with them for the past seven years and not once have I experienced this phenomena. We all just sit around and socialize for about 48 hours straight. I feel terribly cheated, because in that time frame, I could use a moment or two with a quiet book! My partner, as I mentioned above, says, “..well, it. s sort of a thing, but not really a thing. Sort of like how at Thanksgiving people talk about how they are going to eat so much that they will fall into a “food coma” but that’s not really a proper tradition. It’s just the way people talk about it.

However, I just read this NPR article from 2012 where they talk about the concept of Jólabókaflóð having to do with the surge in book sales from late September to November, or most likely, the purchasing of books as gifts. This explanation sits better with me, because I can see evidence of it. Everyone disappearing with their books on Christmas eve and leaving me the hell alone? Not so much.

Image by Caitlin McCarthy

 

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Solstice-Scents-Wilcox_feature

I know in many places you’re getting snow and blizzards but closer to the equator, we’re just starting to experience autumn’s chill. A perfect time to review Solstice Scents Fall 2018 collection! Peek over at Haute Macabre today for my thoughts on a handful of these seasonal fragrances, and leave a comment on the blog post to enter to win a FULL SIZE Bottle of one of the scents!

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16 Nov
2018

Murder Party 31 Days Of Horror

Today at Haute Macabre, some deep thoughts, keen insights, and incisive takeaways from my 31 Days Of Horror last month. Haha! Just kidding! You came to the wrong person for that sort of thing. Also I maybe failed at the whole “31 days” aspect of the challenge.

31 Days Of Horror Satan's Slaves

At any rate, I *did* watch a lot of horror, I discovered some hidden gems (and swept the duds back under the dirt), and as always, had fun!  Maybe no more movies for a while, though.
Read more at Haute Macabre, today!

Spoilers! My two favorites this year were Murder Party and Satan’s Slaves, both pictured above.

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darkness-within-6

This week at Haute Macabre, we indulge in the shadowy marvels of the “Darkness Within”, a new collection of art and objects curated by The Creeping Museum and inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.

The Creeping Museum’s new collection, Darkness Within is inspired by Shirley Jackson’s much beloved novel, the exquisitely unsettling The Haunting of Hill House. Comprised of the works of twenty artists, each offering from “Darkness Within” artistically interprets various different eerie passages from the book for the collection, combining to create an “illustrated edition” of sorts.

Read more: Darkness Within At The Creeping Museum

darkness-within-2

 

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Goblinfruit-Studio-martyr

This week at Haute Macabre, I catch up with artist and sculptor Carisa Swenson of Goblinfruit Studio (about whom I have written extensively before.) If you’ve ever been in my home or peeked at the snippets I share of it online, you’ve no doubt glimpsed her marvelous work and fallen deeply, fabulously in love. Here’s your chance to learn more about the creator and caretaker of these curious creatures!

Goblinfruit-Studio-mimimandrakes

Psssst…!These mandrake cuties are currently for sale in the Goblinfruit shop! 

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7 Sep
2018

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On the Haute Macabre blog today, Needful Things is back (it’s a regular-ish feature now, wheee!) and the staff writers dish on the stuff & things–both fancy and fundamental– that we’ve been enamored with this past summer. Have a peek! You may find your own next needful thing here.

Needful things pictured here from Flannery Grace Good and Ghoulish Delights Bath Shop.

Crossroads by Yanni Flores
“crossroads” by Yanni Floros

Also this week we dust off our Aural Fixation feature to discuss some of our favorite podcasts. Admittedly, this is a bit of a ploy to get you guys to chime in with some of your own, so that we can expand our libraries 😉

Shout out to my two forever favorites, Bad Books for Bad People and The Witch Wave!

Madonna

Books Autumn 2018

And lastly, you can take a gander at August’s gathering of late summer reads! See what books the Haute Macabre writers loved, the books we loathed, and the books we’d swan about in a posh library looking gorgeous with, like Madonna here.

Three featured books from my late summer stack: House of Women, North American Lake Monsters, and Philosophy Pussycats & Porn.

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23 Aug
2018

Cadabra Records Hound of the Baskervilles

Spoken word horror on vinyl? Yes please! Take a peek at my interview with Cadabra Records’ Jonathan Dennison over at Haute Macabre this week and hasten your eerie October feels with a fearsome tale from their extraordinary catalog of offerings.

See below my ever-expanding collection of Cadabra releases! We had the Dracula album playing (voiced by Tony Todd), as we passed out candy to adorable trick-or-treaters last year. I daresay their parents were not impressed with us.

Cadabra collection

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25 Jul
2018

How-To-Wear-A-Jumpsuit

How To Wear A Jumpsuit“…is never a phrase I thought I’d seriously be typing out for you, but, well, I can be wrong sometimes, and here we are.

Over at Haute Macabre right now you will find several suggestions for wearing this head-to-toe one piece wonder, and some totally realistic situations for which they may be appropriate!
This ensemble in particular I can vouch for; the jumpsuit is from Aakasha, the kimono is very inexpensive on amazon, and I own a bag very similar to this one from Baba Studio.

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