Odd Obsession

Photos by Ray S. Sorry I haven't gotten around to a Halloween post, I wanted to used these awesome pictures my friend Ray took and I kept forgetting to ask for permission. We went to see Nosferatu at a cool old church with a live organist. It was great and the show and popcorn was free. Then we hung out a Donny Dirk's Zombie Den , where the bartenders all dress like Shaun of the Dead and the drinks are very strong and dangerous. I think the outfit was one of my best, it fit several Halloween costume criteria: Pretty easy to move around in. I was worried about the heels, but I didn't have any trouble. Certainly nothing like when we went as tikis . . . Re-usable. I could use the whole thing for a convention or parts of it for a night on the town or even work. Fun to make. Good couple costume. Flexible. Was demure at work and the church, but turned magically strumpelicious* at the bar. Special thanks to Christine and Jennifer for providing parts of the outfit and Dr. S for l

Fifteen authors who've influenced you and whose writing will always be with you. List the first fifteen authors who come to mind in no more than fifteen minutes. Dorothy Parker Pauline Kael Emily Dickinson Dawn Powell Henry Green Henry James Charlotte Bronte Jun'ichirō Tanizaki Patrick Macias Octavia Butler Pat Cadigan Jane Austen Ursula K LeGuin George Saunders Jean Rhys I chose writers that have a worldview that jibes with mine and when I read them, they colonize my mind and I start thinking the way they write (that's why it's so dangerous to read late-period Henry James, every thought starts taking forever ). I didn't include any comic book artists because it's a different medium, viewing them as authors doesn't give the art enough props. Like, do I include Neil Gaiman even though I may never read Sandman again because the art was boring? But if you feel differently, or want to limit your list to fiction or 18th-century epistolary novels or Ur