 Funny story. Right before our Galentine's Day pop-up, we decided to do a batch of Satanic Don't Panic bath bombs. These would be our basic bomb formula with colloidal oatmeal for moisturizing and activated charcoal added for color and cleansing. We mixed up all the dry ingredients, added the essential oils, and got ready to form the bombs. But when we started spraying down the mixture with witch hazel to pack it into molds, the studio quickly filled with a powerful egg fart stench. We think the charcoal we were using was low-grade, and the smell was a sulphur coating dissolving in the slightly-acidic witch hazel. Who knew bath bombs were so sciency!?
So we've got a jar of mixed up citric acid, charcoal and baking soda that smells lovely until it hits water, at which point it unleashes a cloud of fart stink that would make Satan blush. We're not saying we'd condone pulling the ultimate prank on a bath lover in your life, but hit us up if you can guarantee we won't get sued.
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 A little over six weeks ago, we took a poll asking if it was totally batshit nuts for Bathomet to apply for C2E2, Chicago's biggest pop culture convention. The reply was overwhelmingly "got for it." So we did. And let me tell you, it went really well. So well, in fact, that I'm trying not to weep in this coffee shop while I type this recap. Before last weekend, the most soap we'd ever made for a pop-up was 70 bars. For C2E2, we made nearly 300. We came up with new products for the weekend; Michael Meyer Lemon sheet masks, It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin lotion bars, Lem-Mint Configuration bath bombs, Moaning Myrtle bar soaps, R2D2C(BD)2E2 & Kessel Rum specialty soaps. We expanded our candle, bath bomb and Bath Intentions lines. In short, we busted butts to bring quality puns & bath products to the masses. It paid off. All weekend, we'd see people stroll by the booth, get the joke, laugh out loud, double back into our booth and end up buying something. We heard more than once that we're geniuses for coming up with the Bathomet pun. We had returning customers, including a woman who was at our very first pop-up ever. A bunch of people brought their kids into the booth to buy a bath bomb or a bar of soap, totally unconcerned that our logo is a goat-headed deity in a bathtub. The crowd reaction was so completely positive, I'm pretty sure I pulled all of my smile muscles. And oh, the creativity! Whether watching cosplayers stroll by the booth, or taking a quick tour around the show floor, the dedication and craftsmanship on display was outstanding. And the diversity of the crowd was so heartening. All ages, sizes, colors, abilities... Nobody judged. Star-Lord challenged Ronan the Accuser to a dance battle. A union of henchmen held signs advertising discount henching rates. I saw a fully-motoroized Dalek just rolling around Artist Alley not exterminating anyone. In a time when bad news overwhelms, seeing people proudly display their passion and artistry like this was truly recharging.
Best of all, we sold a ton of product. This rules not only because we can now afford to pay our studio rent for a few more months, but also because we get to continue putting great soap in great hands. We got invited to Grand Rapids Comic Con & Spooky Empire. Every new sale or fan or Instagram follower lets us know we're doing the right thing bringing horror & humor to self-care. Like we said to a few customers this weekend - we're like Lush, but for creeps. So thanks a million to all of our friends & family, Indiegogo backers & return customers, fans of the brand & new followers. We're beyond proud of this little soap company. As Above, Scrub Below. Amanda & Margaret  Hello again, friends! We're a little less than 5 days away from Bathomet's debut at C2E2! We're INSANELY* excited about some of the products we've made to bring to the facepaint-covered masses. I'm also, personally, super excited to see all of my favorite and most niche fandoms represented in glorious cosplay.
If you're attending, we'd love to see you at the Bathomet booth! Among everything else, we'll have a photo op set up with Bathomet herself! Also if you haven't been following some of our other social media channels, we've set up an Indiegogo campain to help with the booth fee and some of the other costs of the event. We've got some pretty great perks (if I do say so myself) including a free custom fandom soap bundle, a free pass to the full weekend (if you were thinking of coming but missed the boat) and even a personal soapmaking course for you and four of your friends! Check. It. Out. http://bit.ly/BathometC2E2 See you there! *We're also just insane. So, we applied to vend at C2E2. This is a huge leap for a little soap company. But we think Bathomet would fit in great, and we'd love to share our brand with a bunch of fandoms. So, in preparation for a potentially amazing weekend, here are our Top Five Product Ideas for C2E2.
1. Lem-mint Configuration Bath Bomb - Your luxuriating will be legendary, even in Hell! 2. Michael Myers Lemon Sheet Mask - Sheriff, flawless skin has come to your little town. 3. Spruce Campbell Scented Candle - Smells like chainsaw oil and Kandarian Demons. Groovy. 4. Hand Cream for the Recently Deceased - Non-shrinking lotion for a healthy, just-dead glow. 5. R2D2C(BD)2E2 - An R2D2-shaped lotion bar infused with CBD oil, obviously. Today's Friday Five is Books to Scare Your Pants Off! HOPE YOU LIKE BEING PANTSLESS!  The Elementals by Michael McDowell - In the Elementals, an Alabama family returns to their vacation estate on the Gulf coast after the death of the family matriarch. The estate consists of three identical houses, one of which is being overtaken by sand dunes. Don’t think sand can be scary? Wow, how wrong you are.  Golgotha Falls by Frank de Felitta - A priest and two paranormal investigators walk into an unconsecrated church. Horror ensues. Golgotha Falls is an excellent blend of religious horror (one of my favorite and the most-often-disappointing genres) and haunted house story. Mix in 1970s-era paranormal research tech and a little bit of sex and you got yerself a classic.  Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let the Right One In is a layered and terrifying story about a young boy who befriends a child vampire. The story deals with issues like bullying, child neglect, and paedophelia, but you find yourself unsure of who you should hate and who you should sympathize with. And there’s this one scene in a dark room that legit scared the bejeezus out of me. Disregard your feelings about either of the movie adaptations and read this book.  The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - In my humble opinion, the Netflix Hill House series is a hate crime. Jackson’s book is so much better. The Haunting of Hill House centers main character Eleanor Vance’s visit to the notoriously evil old mansion. She joins Dr. Montague, a scholar searching for proof of the paranormal; Teddy, a free spirit with a wicked turn; Luke, a playboy and future heir to hill house; and of course the house itself. Hill House offers an elegant exploration of loneliness and emotional complexity in its female protagonist, and a mighty good haunted house story to boot.  ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King - Before King’s books were 600+ pages of unedited coke spew, he wrote some real bangers. ‘Salem’s Lot is a swift and scary read. Writer Ben Mears returns to Jerusalem’s Lot to find the town decimated by a mysterious force. Guess what, it’s vampires. But not your sparkly, hair gelled vampires. These ones are some real sons of bitches.
Podcasts were invented for murder and cold case stories, right? I don't know what it is about the format that lends itself so well to stories of the darker side of humanity. I guess it's like how YouTube was made for cat bloopers; my second favorite form of entertainment after murder talk. Here are five of my favorite serial true crime podcasts. Please erase my podcast history if I’m ever charged with a crime.  Teacher’s Pet - This one’s a twofer for murder AND patriarchal fuckery. Ex-footballer Chris Dawson’s wife goes missing and nobody seems to be that bothered by it, even when he moves the babysitter into the house and marries her. Host Hedley Thomas dives deep into a story of lies, abuse, and statutory rape in Australia. Get ready to scream at your phone, folks.  Happy Face - Happy Face gets real dark, real quick. In 1995, Melissa Moore finds out her father Keith is a serial killer. What follows is the story of a brutal, heartless murderer, and a daughter who hopes she’s not like her father. Trigger warning, the pod includes narrated testimony from Keith’s trial, which is very, very graphic.  Dr. Death - Wait, is this a murder list or a shitty patriarchy list? Hahahaha it’s hard to tell! Dr. Death is about how a total moron rose through the ranks of his profession, without anyone questioning his actual ability. Dr. Christopher Duntsch operated on 38 patients between 2010 -2012, with thirty-three patients suffering injury and two patients actually dying post-op.  Black Hands - In 1994, five members of an eccentric New Zealand family were gunned down in their home. The suspects were the father, Robin, dead of a gunshot wound at the scene, and the son, David, the only member of the family not home during the murder. This podcast has it all; hoarding, religious zealotry, family annihilation, and a weird courtroom grudge.  Bear Brook - You had me at "Two Barrels, Four Bodies."
Hey, welcome back to the Friday Five! It's about to snow 100 ft. in Chicago, and I really want to get on the train before the world explodes, so here are five horror/music moments that have stuck with me.
-A Midnight Special - Twilight Zone Although you can't see it in this scene, Danny Ackroyd has a butt that won’t quit. That's all really. Six Different Ways - It When I was making out with my high school boyfriend to the Cure in a dark basement, I never would’ve imagined this sugary sweet song would be associated with a group of scrappy kids cleaning a blood-soaked bathroom. Excellent music choice for an excellent movie adaptation. Hip to be Square - American Psycho I bought the Huey Lewis and the News - Sports LP at a local record store a few years back, and some clever soul had gone through the trouble of typing out the entire American Psycho diatribe on computer labels on the jacket. I hope they got a raise. American Girl - Silence of the Lambs If you don't refer to being kidnapped and thrown in a well as getting "Tom Petty'd" I honestly don't know what's wrong with you. Roll With the Changes - Cabin in the Woods Sadly, I couldn't find a clip of the actual movie scene of the control room folks celebrating and poor Dana being beaten to a pulp on the dock by Judah Buckner (spoilers, I guess) but it fits deliciously with this, my favorite REO Speedwagon song, and I SHRIEKED in the theater when it came on. This Joss Whedon decision almost makes Riley Finn worth it. Almost.  We're working on our candle game in the Bathomet Labs, and before we go full Yankee-Candle and betray our brand, I give you Top Five Candle Scents I Would Love to Make that Nobody Would Buy
Garage - A mix of two-stroke engine oil and mildew. A real dad scent. Cold Cat Fur - The oddly smoky way a cat smells when it comes in during the winter. Wet Leaves - You know, the smell of fresh rain on lawns, with a hint of worms. Permanent Marker - Smells good, man. Vinegar - If I were pickled, I’d probably eat me. What are yours?  It's GALENTINE'S! Well, it's about a month until Galentine's. But we can't contain our excitement about the Galentine's Day Market at Emporium Logan Square. Brought to you by the same people who did the Crampus Holiday Market, and c'mon that's a genius pun.
Admission to the Galentine's Day Market is free, but we encourage bringing a donation of pads or tampons. Did y'all know that having a period sucks? It does. Now imagine having a period on top of homelessness or poverty. The Chicago Period Project empowers homeless and in-need people to experience their periods with dignity. Your donation will make a difference in someone's life, probably within the month. Anyway, join us and some of our faves at Emporium Logan Square on February 13th. We may or may not have anatomical heart soaps in the works. Mwah! A
It's been a while since I had blog on which to ramble about the things I love. I used to do a yearly 31 Days of Creep thing on tumblr during October, but I kinda grew out of tumblr.* I had a secret poetry Livejournal in the early aughts, but that's neither here nor there. What I'm saying is that miss writing in a format longer than 280 characters. So here, in no particular order, and with no real thought to quality or lasting cultural impression, are my Top Five Favorite Horror Movies.**
Keep an eye out for future Friday Fives here. -A *Not just because they banned porn. **As of right now, in this minute, while I'm composing this. 1. The Abandoned In The Abandoned (2006) (not to be confused with Abandoned (1949), Abandon (2002), Abandoned (2010) or The Abandoned (2016)) our heroine Marie inherits a house from her estranged mother in Russia. Upon arriving at the remote homestead, she finds out the place is anything but vacant as her mysterious family history comes back to actually haunt her. This one’s a claustrophobic and atmospheric thinker with enough twists and chills for a second or third viewing. The filming and set design amplify Marie’s fear and desperation as she tries to make sense of her house of horrors. And the ending ties everything into a bleak ouroboros that will make you hope you never inherit anything in your life. 2. The Changeling (1980) The Changeling tells the story of John Russell, a widowed composer who rents a big, old house in the wake of losing his wife & young son. Russell soon realizes he’s not alone in the rambling mansion. Pushed by a ghostly presence, Russell unravels a web of secrets and murder implicating a powerful local family. While the Changeling isn’t well-known outside of horror circles, its influence is obvious in The Ring, another movie I’ve watched a billion times. The film artfully blends haunted house story and murder mystery. Also, George C. Scott rules. 3. As Above, So Below Rogue archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe enlists her ex-flame George and some subculture locals to search the famous Paris catacombs for the philosopher’s stone, a fabled alchemical substance rumored to grant eternal life. After getting lost in the labyrinthian catacombs, each character must face horrors from their past to return to a normal present. Sometimes when I don’t know what to watch, I’ll put on this flick. As Above, So Below combines folklore with likeable characters, spooky imagery and slick production value. It’s fast enough that you don’t get bored, but complicated enough that you can watch it over and over. 4. Silent Hill After some creepy foreshadowing and a mild car accident, Rose (Radha Mitchell) loses her daughter Sharon in the spooky ghost town of Silent Hill. Joined by kick-ass lady cop Cybil, Rose searches the hellish town for Sharon, evading terrifying mutants, a murderous cult and a dude called Pyramid Head who is a real sack of crap. It’s possible that I only like the Silent Hill movie so much because I loved the video games. But there’s some real production value here; Radha Mitchell’s costume slowly changes from light pastels to a deep blood red as her quest to find her daughter progresses. And of course once you’ve visited Silent Hill, you’ll never hear a foghorn again without peeing your pants a little. 5. Ghost Ship Don't @ me, this movie is flawless. FLAWLESS. |
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