These are a few of my favorite things: H.R. Giger, Part I of II

I'm a little late with this week's mid-week post because I've just been having so much fun collecting Giger pictures that I couldn't stop long enough to write about them.

I assume all - or at least most - of you are already familiar with German superfreak H.R. Giger, the concept artist behind Alien, an early aborted version of Dune, a number of Necronomicons, and a bunch of other creepy/sexy fetish paintings and sculptures scattered from one end of the Internet to the other. But just in case you're not familiar with him, or in case you just want to know more (and get a good laugh at the same time), allow me to point you toward this Cracked article.

I've been collecting Giger art for quite awhile but haven't thought of blogging about him - I guess because I kind of take him for granted. After all, he's as much apart of the cyber-fetish scene as Sorayama, isn't he? Fortunately, I stumbled across a few great Giger sites this week, and those led me to a few more sites; so before you know it, I was off on one of my typical OCD image chases. Results below.

For anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps, here are the best places I've found for high-quality Giger scans. This site has the biggest, clearest images, but it's a little limited in scope. This site has more images, but they're not always the best quality. This site has the most complete collection - and also features art by some other artists I've featured on my blog: Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo, and Julie Bell.

And now, on with the show. As the Cracked article so humorously points out, a hell of a lot of Giger art is about dicks. But a lot of it's about vulvas, too. The part that interests me most, though, is the intersection between human and cyborg, human and inhuman. To me, a lot of these images suggest seduction and/or mind control by supernatural or mechanical means. Those are the images that really push my buttons - and, I hope yours.

And now, unfortunately, I'm going to have to sign off for a little while and go to work. Blogger is misbehaving and refusing to upload the rest of the images I have planned, so I'll try again this evening or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for the rest!

An idea I've been playing around with for years

Some of you might remember a previous post I made about one of the fantasies I wrote just for myself, before publishing anything on the EMCSA. Well, this post relates to another of those fantasies. I used to imagine what it might be like to attend a fetish party with my Mistress, dressed as a doll with (seemingly) unblinking, black-button eyes; hypnotized into believing I was that doll. That fantasy provided the groundwork for my Raggedy Anne story - which is still, IMO, far too close to a personal fantasy to make a really good EMC story. But doll fetishists seem to like it, so I don't mind. ;-) Anyway, that original fantasy was meant to be realistic, involving only hypnotism and makeup to achieve the physical effects. And that meant I had to think of a legitimate way to make someone's eyes really look like unblinking black buttons.What I came up with was a combination of full-sclera black contact lenses; thick, shiny black makeup ringing the eyes; and black eyeliner across the waterline to hide that last little bit of flesh color. I figured that if the audience saw nothing but black, whether my eyes were open or shut, it would almost appear as though I never blinked. Not quite, but almost. Now, I have no idea if my idea would work in reality (If anyone wants to give it a try, I'd love to hear about it!). Making up the waterline is tricky, and if that makeup got onto the contacts, it would be pretty uncomfortable. I'm sure I'll never get to try it for myself, but not long I decided to at least see how it might look, if it could be done. So I gathered some images from my collection and various online sources and came up with what you see here. Now, bear in mind that I don't have anything as sophisticated as Photoshop on my home computer. I have a very old knockoff program that does everything I need it to do, but it certainly can't do all the tricks the real Photoshop can; and it probably takes a lot longer for me to do something with it than it would with Photoshop. Anyway, I started with a picture of Porsylin, a relatively unknown fetish model who's always looked kind of slutty to me. I thought it would be fun to turn a tramp into a blank-eyed, mindless doll; so she was a great choice. Plus, she had the perfect headshot for my purposes. ;-) First I faded her skin to a doll-like pallor; then I pasted in actual makeup jobs and contact lenses from other pictures, just so I could see how the effects would look in a real-life setting. And lastly, of course, I put the retouched face on top of an anonymous model whose picture I found on a costume website. It's nice to see my idea taken full-body, but honestly, I prefer the closeup of Porsylin's retouched face. That's where you can see all the lovely details. ;-) I think Porsylin makes a pretty awesome mindwiped drone doll; don't you?

Since I'm getting so much feedback on this topic, here's a little more

I've been pleasantly surprised by the volume of feedback I'm getting on the story of the Michigan politician who's stalking and harassing a gay college student; and I'm seeing it discussed on other sites, as well, which makes me feel even better. This Shirvell person (a.k.a. Evil Pee Wee) is clearly bugfuck insane, shouldn't be in a political office, and should probably be institutionalized for his own protection - not to mention Chris Armstrong's protection.

As a matter of fact, the news today is that Armstrong had already filed a restraining order against Shirvell before the story even broke. The judge is still considering it, and I hope she comes to a decision very, very soon. I have to admit that I'm fearful for Armstrong's safety, myself. I hope he has a lot of friends around him and, I don't know, some kind of concealed weapon. Just in case.

Anyway, since I am getting a lot of feedback about this story, I thought I'd post the new video CNN released today. It's a panel discussion with a couple of experts who agree with everything I and the folks who've written me are saying, and they take it even further. Really interesting stuff. And, of course, that manip I promised you will show up sometime this weekend.

I struggled to find a less cliched way to describe this clip, but I can't.

It's epic. It just is.

But before I share it, let me assure you that I'm working on something more fetish-related: a complicated (for me, with my paleolithic software, at least) photomanip that isn't quite ready yet. You're going to love it, but you might not get to see it before the weekend. Fortunately, there's this to enjoy in the meantime.

Let me give you a little setup. The reporter here is Anderson Cooper (a.k.a. "The Silver Fox" - no, I'm not making that up). He's extremely professional, and he's gay - something he's never come right out and said, because he'd rather be known as a reporter than a gay reporter, but he's gay. The guy he's interviewing here holds a statewide political office in Michigan (He also, IMO, looks and acts remarkably like Pee Wee Herman, but that's beside the point). This guy has been - there's no better way to describe it - stalking and harassing - a gay college student council member who, Pee Wee thinks, is an agent of Satan. Watch in awe as Anderson Cooper takes him apart piece by piece. It's like the Black Knight scene from The Holy Grail.

The funniest potty-mouthed nerd girls since "One time at band camp"

This made my morning.

Oh, and I totally want to make that brunette switch teams. ;-)

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things: Supernatural Seduction

I've got a full goodie bag for you today, folks: photos, digitally manipulated images, and first-rate artwork, all depicting supernatural seducers and their prey.

Let's start with this fantastically creepy, evocative image from photographer Samuraj Grzes, one of my Model Mayhem finds (And speaking of that site, from now on I'm just going to use a generic blurb for MM images in these info-dump posts. It'll be a lot easier than pasting in all the individual links. Check the bottom of this post for the blurb).

Next up are an illustration from Luis Royo's Dead Moon (I have no idea what's going on here, but I like it!), a fairy reel by Frizzy Cube, and an I-don't-know-what-she-is-but-I'm-already-under-her-spell by Farhia.

Now here's a piece by Bethalynn Bajema, whom I profiled once before on this blog - and who requests that her work not be reposted without her permission, so please respect her wishes. Next is another painting by Luis Royo that's evocatively titled Kiss of the Fog, and finally a photo of V. Larsen by Porcelain Poet.

Below, left, is an image by MAD Designs that might make you wonder why I chose it for this post. Just click on the thumbnail image, then study the bottom half of the picture; you'll figure it out pretty quickly. This chick reminds me of a certain very scary character from Clive Barker's Weaveworld. Also on this row are a lovely ghost/vampire/zombie/who-knows-what by artist Arantza and an equally open-to-interpretation shot by Silversoul Photo.

Now here's Karenza modeling for Admirion, something-or-other cool from Imaginary Media, and an anonymous victim falling prey to Kirsty Mitchell's purple pollen trapdoor monster.

Finally, one more painting from Royo; a digital creation by Tiny Dragon Productions, and a Cthulhu-esque sorceress by Alice Duke, a.k.a. Melora.

***Unless otherwise noted (usually via link), all models, photographers, and digital artists in this post can be found on Model Mayhem.***

From "U" to "Z" by way of Frank Frazetta

I'm still sick, so I'll keep this brief - and hopefully enjoyable. Here are my two most recent photo finds. First up is Ulorin Vex (and Chesty Von Ellem) in a Frazetta-inspired piece by Allan Amato. You're welcome. :-)

Next, we have Zoetica Ebb showing how adorable she looks even without a stitch of makeup. She's currently promoting "No Makeup Week" on her blog and is setting the perfect example with her "androgynous street punk" look. I think I'll decline her invitation to join the festivities, but hats off to her and all the other gals who've sent in bare-faced photos.

Interestingly enough, at the same time Zoetica is encouraging her female readers to go cosmetics-free, she's touting the joys of makeup for men. And I have to say, looking at the pictures she shares, those are some mighty fine specimens of painted manhood...okay, well, aside from Devendra Banhart. Ewww. Why'd she have to sully her blog with his sorry ass? Oh, well, at least she made up for it with the picture of herself.