"This World Is A Comedy To Those That Think, A Tragedy To Those That Feel." - Horace Walpole, The Letters

BBC News

Tutankhamun's knife was 'made from meteorite iron'

A dagger entombed alongside the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was made with iron that came from a meteorite, researchers say.

In other news: King Tut's knife was likely forged from alien metals, scientist say.

The Eternals (Volume 1) #9.

"The Killing Machine!!"

Fun Fact:

History's greatest hero deserved better...

The ending to Hercules' story is quite a downer. When Hercules was traveling with his new bride Deianeira, they came across a flooded river and the centaur Nessus offered to carry Deianeira across while Hercules swam in front of them. Only when Hercules got to the shore, he saw that Nessus had turned around and tried running off with his wife. So the hero took out one of his poisoned arrows and sent it ripping through Nessus' chest. Refusing to die unavenged, Nessus told Deianeira that she could use his bloody shirt to cast a love spell on Hercules if he ever got bored with her. And years later, she gave it a try, without realizing the shirt had also absorbed the poison from her husband's arrows and so the moment Hercules was tricked into putting the shirt on, his body cried out in pain. The poison entered his bloodstream, causing it to boil and hiss and the tunic grafted itself to his skin. So the only way to get it off was by ripping off his own flesh. Left with no other option, the immortal Heracles made a funeral pyre to burn away his physical form and soon after, his spirit was welcomed to Mt. Olympus.

The Winged Man (1880), by Odilon Redon, a classic symbolist image that has inspired me.

Our tour begins before we even enter the Mansion itself in the Magic Kingdom, where you can see some of our guests in their corruptible...mortal...busts.

Pictured here, we have the Dread Family. Uncle Jacob Dread, Bertie Dread, Aunt Florence McGriffin Dread, Wellington and Forsythia Dread, and Cousin Maude (Dread, I'm assuming).

They were a family of six who once inhabited the manor before one day they all met their gruesome fate at each other's hands. Uncle Jacob was poisoned by Bertie for his wealth. Who was then shot dead by Florence as an act of revenge. Who was then smothered by bird seed by Forsythia and Wellington, who were then killed in their sleep with a mallet…by Cousin Maude. Who, as the sole surviving member of the Dread Family, burned to death because she liked to use matches in her hair instead of hairpins (really amazing thinking there Cousin Maude…🙄). And now, the Dread Family is no more and haunt the halls of the esteemed mansion.

An anime/manga I highly recommend...

Battle Angel Alita (titled Gunnm in Japanese).

Would you take a job as a professional hermit (also known as a garden hermit or ornamental hermit)? Yes, believe it or not, this was a real job in the Victorian era. In 18th and 19th century England, Scotland and Ireland, aristocrats placed ads like this in papers: "Wanted - Ornamental Garden Hermit". The profession required you to become a human ornamental folly on the grounds of a wealthy family estate whilst living in a cave or cottage, turret or hole, contemplating the human condition and enchanting the occasional passerby with your presence at the behest of the landowner. The less like a young English aristocrat you looked, the better. So they were often elderly men with long beards and loose clothes, resembling garden gnomes. Talk about a dream job! Who WOULDN'T want a gig like this? It's the Victorian equivalent of a Walmart greeter.

Werewolf traditions from cultures around the world...

1) In Argentina, a family's seventh born child would sometimes be killed out of fear that it would be a werewolf, especially if they were male and their father was also a seventh child.

2) In French Canadian folklore, not confessing your sins on Easter was a surefire way of being cursed to transform into a werewolf.

3) In Norse mythology, there's a myth about a father and son who discover magical wolf pelts and after putting them on are forced to live as wolves for 10 days before they can turn human again.

4) In Greek mythology, the first ever man wolf hybrid was King Lycaon who was cursed for trying to trick Zeus into eating human meat.

5) In 1500s France, a man named Peter Stumpp was found guilty of killing and eating a dozen people while in werewolf form, including two pregnant women and his own son.

Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter.

One of the greatest horror movies of all time. A genre supernova. Created a taxonomic category that still lives. Unsparing precision, a simple premise and style.

While the original Halloween may not be the first slasher movie, it is the film that set the groundwork for the genre and paved the way for all the other great slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you claim to be a horror fan and you haven't seen the original Halloween, first of all, shame on you. Second of all, watch it NOW. This one is required viewing.

Also, it is my personal opinion that John Carpenter's Halloween has the greatest opening scene in horror history.

In my opinion, this show is one of the most well-realized and exciting/compelling cartoons around.