Who do you blame when all your dreams come true?

Fortunately not in person, ap_aelfwine just introduced me to Jack Parsons. I cannot imagine how I never heard of him before, but between the rocket science, the moonchild, and the fulminate of mercury, there's a beautiful secret history here. Has someone alerted Tim Powers?

I am so looking forward to PJ Harvey's new album, and not just because its songs are titled things like "Cracks in the Canvas" and "The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go."

This is merely lovely: death (and vampirism) in Venice.

"To kill the vampire you had to remove the shroud from its mouth, which was its food like the milk of a child, and put something uneatable in there," Mr Borrini said. "It's possible that other corpses have been found with bricks in their mouths, but this is the first time the ritual has been recognised."