Science Fair for October 27th-November 2nd

For this week's installment of the Science Fair, let's go ahead and get all our Halloween ya-yas out, shall we? At my house, we were absolute grinches. I put out a bowl of mini Snickers bars with a nice, festive sign for the kiddies welcoming them to take some, have a happy, safe Halloween! ...Aaaand then I went to the gym. After hearing of Jeanne's exploits in the big city on Halloween night, I'm regretting my decision to be a holiday humbug! What should I dress up as next year? Louisa May Alcott, a French pierrot, a badass steampunk Victorian lady, or a sexy Rubik's cube? Of course NOW I have costume ideas, on November 2nd!

-Steampunk took over the Bay Area this weekend with the first annual convention right in our backyard: STEAM POWERED. I was, in fact, at a Japanese restaurant in Sunnyvale enjoying pork-kimchi stirfry when about seven steampunk-alicious individuals traipsed in, it was glorious! Article linked above from the Silicon Valley Metro Active.

-If you're still in a spooky mood, MSNBC had an interesting article about a whole realm of ghosts and ghouls new to the Western hemisphere: yokai. Yokai are seriously the stuff of (my) nightmares. I grew up watching GeGeGe no Kitaro and reading Lafcadio Hearn's interpretations of Japanese ghost stories. If you're interested, there's even a live-action version: Kitaro! Digital Monster Island can help you explore the world of Japanese monsters and ghosts to your heart's content, my friends!

-Moving on to the cute and cuddly, the LA Times's set of reader-submitted PHOTOS OF PETS IN COSTUMES had us tearing up with joy. The puppies! The kitties! The costumes! My favorites are, of course, the Boston terriers--check out Wonder Woman!

-Even Jezzies got into the Halloween spirit with amazing childhood photos. I think I was an "old-time" girl for the majority of my childhood Halloweens, because I had a super-awesome American Girl dress that matched my Kirsten doll's (Swedish-Americans, represent!) and little booties. One year, I absolutely demanded to dress as a businesswoman so I could be just like Daddy, and here I am an adult businesswoman. Maybe someday I'll be an adult old-time-girl?

-This has already been big news around the beauty blogosphere (alliteration!), but Goth is back. All the little moneyed boys and girls can class up their Hot Topic goth looks into something a little more stylish, and less runny-eyeliner now...maybe I need one of those FIVE shades of white foundation? My goodness. Thanks, pop culture, for making what once was a Crow-loving subculture into a mainstream fad!

-Back in the day, I was on the radio a couple of hours a week, spinning the tunes and trying not to laugh on air (laughing/giggling on air makes you sound like an idiot, FYI). If you're a lucky college radio fan/DJ, you get to attend, once a year, the College Music Journal Music Marathon in New York City. It is insane. You drag yourself from bar to club to burger joint to the gloriously beer-soaked human stain at the Bowery Ballroom for a week, an all-drinking, not-sleeping music festival of the greatest bands just on the verge of making it bigtime. CMJ provides a summary of the best Brit-pop to come out of this year's Marathon--enjoy!