Indie Squid Kid

(Via Monster Made of Eyes)

Speaking of podcasts…the newest episode of Skeptic Magazine’s Monster Talk podcast is out, and it’s all about the mythos and monsters of H.P. Lovecraft. In the show, Lovecraft scholar Robert M. Price discusses the life, works, and cultural impact of the master of cosmic horror. Additionally, biologist PZ Myers (of the Pharyngula blog) talks about the biology of cephalopods and how they served as the inspiration for Lovecraft’s most famous creation. (Spoiler Alert: it’s Cthulhu.)

The episode is a little over 1 hour long, and I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. Of course, I have quite a bit of extra time on my hands these days (in theory at least), so I’m sure I can block out some time for one of my favorite topics!

You can download the episode (June 16, show 019) and read the show notes here.

Monster Talk is a skeptical look at the creatures of cryptozoology and folklore. Hosts Blake Smith, Ben Radford, and Dr. Karen Stollznow interview scientists and other experts about the science (or lack thereof) behind the word’s legendary beats.

You can subscribe to Monster Talk for free via RSS or iTunes.

Today is Cephalopodmas, but there’s too much to do for that other Capital C holiday that’s just around the corner to post much this week.

The Santa Squid was designed by Adam “Apelad” Koford and the shirt is offered by greyaenigma. It is available in a variety of colors and styles starting at $12.95. Buy it now from Zazzle.com.

Have a squelchy Squidmas and a tentacular New Year!

Last night’s new episode of The Venture Bros. featured a mystic brawl between The Order of the Triad and great Cthulhu himself.

The Venture Bros. is one of my favorite shows currently on TV. It is part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim Sunday night line up, and you can more watch clips and (for a limited time, I think) the entire episode, “The Better Man,” over at AdultSwim.com.

Cthulhu Twitter Avatar, originally uploaded by Ape Lad.

All month long Ape Lad (aka Adam Koford) has been remixing Twitter’s new default avatar, and today he has transformed the cute little birdie silhouette into R’yleh’s most famous resident.

See his Flickr set for more twisted Twitter avatars. You should also check out his ongoing webcomic The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats.

"Because we know that in his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

I’m still in an eldritch sort of mood after yesterday’s post about Lil’ Cthulhu, so for today’s T-shirt Tuesday here is another cuddly take on the sleepiest Elder God.

Teach The Controversy is a division of Amorphia Apparel (just like the previously featured Sir Critter). Riffing off of the Discovery Institute’s campaign to promote Intelligent Design, Teach The Controversy has a T-shirt for just about any crackpot theory you can think of—Atlantis, Reptoids, Time Cube, Young Earth, 2012, and much more!

Like all Amorphia shirts, “Cthulhu” is available in a variety of styles and color combinations. The basic tee is $15.99, and for a little bit more you can get it as an American Apparel shirt, as well as a hoodie or a messenger bag.

Buy it from Teach The Controversy

Halloween is nearly over, but I think I have time to squeeze in one last post. In case you haven’t noticed, I really like Halloween, and one of my favorite things about the holiday is that it gives me an excuse to make compilations of music about Halloween-themed topics such as horror, death, blood, black magic, and monsters. I try to make at least one a year, and there are eight of them so far. I’m constantly on the look out for new songs, and fortunately I see no signs that I will run out of material for new compilations any time soon! In this year’s mix I was pleased to include a small aquatic-themed section:

• Into the Water by Dethklok
• She-Devils of the Deep by Future Bible Heroes
• The Octopus Is Gonna Get You…Dad by Boss The Big Bit
• Creature From The Black Lagoon by The Happy, Happy Jihads

I also do a Halloween music show every year on my podcast. Today’s Halloween show is the fist episode of Random Signal I’ve recorded since June. I tell myself that this temporary hiatus is because of Kid Indie Kid Squid, but the fact that I started doing daily posts on this blog might also have something to do with it…

logo designed by Leah Riley

In theory, Random Signal is produced bi-monthly (on average) and I either host the show solo or with my wife Ryn Nasser. I usually describe the podcast as equal parts geek talk and indie rock—we talk about comics, movies, TV, books, cephalopods, etc., and each show usually features 3-5 songs by independent musicians. I actually do two Halloween-themed shows every year. One on Halloween proper, and one in April on tax day, which I have declared to be the holiday of Aprilween.

I now want to switch gears entirely and talk about cephalopod-themed jack-o-lanterns. I don’t know exactly why, but there seems to be a strong correlation between cephalopod appreciation and artistic talent (although I seem to buck that particular trend). Case-in-point, the following awesome jack-o-lanterns:

Ninja Squid! by Vicious Bits

Vampire Octopus by alexfiles

Cthulhu by Sketchy-Stories

Cthulhu by timailius

And in case you were wondering, our jack-o-lantern this year was sort of a goblin-bat kind of thing…not a cephalopod at all. I’m not completely single-minded!

I’ve been working on my costume for our office Halloween party tomorrow, and, surprisingly, it came together fairly quickly. I’m keeping it a secret for now, but all we be revealed on Saturday!

In the meantime, here is a selection of store-bought cephalopod Halloween costumes:

Pirates of the Caribbean Davy Jones latex mask (by Party America, I think) from my local Halloween Express. The price tag is about $60, but you can get it for about half that on Amazon.

From the same Halloween Express, the full Davy Jones costume (this time by Disguise). In the store, it costs $99.99, but you can get it for $70 at BuyCostumes.com.

Cthulhu mask from Halloween-Mask.com. Currently out of stock.

This awesome tentacle arm was made by The Gaiastore, but tragically it no longer seems to be available. It retailed for a mere $15, so I’m not surprised it sold out!

Child’s octopus costume from Pottery Barn Kids. Retails for $59, but the current online price is $34.99.

Infant costume from CostumeExpress.com. Currently out of stock.

Discontinued “Stuck On You” octopus costume from BabyStyle.com.

Lastly we have “Lil’ Squirt,” which was made for Target by the Charles S. Anderson Design Co. Of all the children’s octopus costumes I’ve seen, this is the one I’d most like to get for Kid Indie Squid Kid. Unfortunately, it was only available for one season several years ago.

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival promotes the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror, and weird tales through the cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers. The festival was founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore in the hope that H.P. Lovecraft would be rightly recognized as a master of gothic horror and his work more faithfully adapted to film and television.

If you live anywhere near Portland, OR (Natalie, I’m looking in your direction) and are a fan of things that go Bloop in the night, this is the event for you!

www.HPLFilmFestival.com

photo by Chrysophylax

Cthulhu action figure by SOTA Toys.

Carcassonne board game by Rio Grande Games.