1. What are your responsibilities as Director of Facilities?
The position oversees all Facilities Staff and provides day-to-day operational, logistical and maintenance to all BOPA facility operations, which includes Top of the World Observation Level, Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, The Cloisters and School 33 Art Center. I am charged with creating and maintaining high quality, visitor friendly attractions that run smoothly, and to fulfill its directive of raising revenues.
2. Tell us about the attractions you manage.
The Cloisters is a historic home on 60 acres of property with charming gardens in Lutherville, Maryland. We have hosted multiple private events including the wedding of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. We have also been a site for extensive film projects including Cry Baby, Absolute Power and most recently House of Cards.
The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower is an iconic landmark in the Baltimore Skyline. The four-sided clock tower is one foot larger than the clock at Westminster, or Big Ben as it is known throughout the world. We host artists, writers and designers, and are home to the largest collection of blue glass in the world. The museum collection is on loan through the generosity of Ernie Dimler.
School 33 Art Center has been a bridge between contemporary artists and the public. Through exhibitions, studios for artists, classes for adults and children, as well as special events and workshops, the center works to insure a vibrant future for contemporary art and artists in Baltimore. The three gallery spaces, multi-use classrooms, permanent, on-site collaborative installations, and an environmentally-friendly outdoor garden fed by a rainwater collection system are examples of School 33's commitment to maintaining and expanding the potential of our historic building.
Top of the World Observation Level has a spectacular and unforgettable view of Baltimore from the top of the world's tallest pentagonal building. New exhibits about local landmarks, famous people and "firsts," and historic events will engage and inspire you to explore more of Charm City.
3. Do you have something that helps your workday? If so, what?
I couldn't do my job without the Facilities Staff; their enthusiasm, dedication and creativity are what inspire me every day.
4. How does the facilities department create a one-of-a-kind experience for visitors?
Each Facilities Staff member brings their love and appreciation of Baltimore, the arts and history to the experience at each facility. Our visitors experience is the upmost importance to the Facilities Team.
5. How can people rent a facility or an artist studios?
Email me at aapplegarth@promotionandarts.org, or Sarah Wilson at swilson@promotionandarts.org. We gotcha covered.
6. What must-attend events happen this spring?
7. What work did you do before BOPA?
I worked (and still work on occasion) as a production manager in the music business setting up tours, concerts and festivals all over the world. My clients include Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Dave Mathews and the Rolling Stones. I also worked regionally as a location manager in the film industry. I worked as the assistant location manager on John Waters' Cecil B. Demented … and my boss was none other than Debbie Donaldson Dorsey, BOPA's director of Baltimore Film Office.
8. What do you do in your time outside of work?
The finalists' exhibition is on view Saturday, June 15–Sunday, August 11, 2019 at the Walters Art Museum, located at 600 N. Charles St. An award announcement and reception takes place Saturday, July 13, 2019 at 7pm at the Walters. Galleries open at 10am. Admission to the exhibition and opening reception are free. Each finalist not selected for the fellowship is presented with an M&T Bank Finalist Award of $2,500.
1. Tell us a little about you.
I'm a Baltimore native. I was born in the Pimlico neighborhood. Well, I was born in a hospital but my family lived in Pimlico. I grew up in Northwood and Harford County. After discovering that I really didn't like college, I joined the Air Force and off I went. I had a pretty cool career in the military. My best day in the Air Force was spent doing barrel rolls in an F4-E. Embarrassing secret time: I love to fly, and I'm terrified of heights. Terrified of heights and I work in a tower—life is weird, eh?
2. What BOPA events or facilities do you volunteer for?
I spend most of my time at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, and have done so since the 2011 centenary celebration. This past summer, I spent my Sundays at the Farmers' Market & Bazaar. And my year wouldn't be complete without Artscape and the Book Festival. I enjoy working with the social media team for all the big festivals—Artscape, Baltimore Book Festival and Light City.
3. Why is volunteerism important to you?
It is interesting that you would ask that question. When I graduated from University of Baltimore, one of my first positions was as an AmeriCorps VISTA. A big part of my assignment was developing and administering a volunteer service program. After the Air Force and AmeriCorps service, it just seems where I belong. And of course I enjoy working with members of our community, especially when it is in an environment filled with fun and creativity.
4. What is the most unique skill you bring to volunteer opportunities?
During my working career, I rarely worked inside my career field or job description. I learned to figure things out as I went along. My skill is that I actually enjoy working that way.
5. What tips can you give people new to BOPA's volunteer team?
Get to know the people you're volunteering with. It is a friendly bunch, and you'll fit in. You will.
6. What do you do when you are not volunteering?
I'm teaching myself to paint, and work on improving my photography practice.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) relies on the work and enthusiasm of hundreds of volunteers throughout the year. Learn more about volunteer opportunities at www.promotionandarts.org/get-involved/volunteer.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), Baltimore City's arts council, announces applications are available for its arts programs for winter 2019. Applications are open to artists, arts professionals, arts and culture organizations, and community organizations. Application deadlines vary. Applications are available here. BOPA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supports the arts community through advocacy, arts and cultural activities, and develops and administers funds, grant programs and community workshops. Additional artist opportunities will be available at a later date.
BOPA receives general operating support from the City of Baltimore, Maryland State Arts Council and the Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, along with program support from the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, Baltimore City's Department of Housing and Community Development, and Baltimore City's Department of Planning.
An information session for the public takes place Wednesday, February 20, 2019 from 6–8pm at School 33 Art Center, located at 1427 Light St., Baltimore, MD 21230. People interested in applying for arts programs can ask questions about available opportunities, eligibility and application requirements, as well as meet BOPA staff.
School 33 Art Center presents three new exhibitions on view Friday, February 15 through Saturday, April 27, 2019.
A group exhibition of projected experimental video shorts, THE MOTHER OF INVENTION features several artists who incorporate new media in the form of collage, stop motion animation, DIY digital and analog image manipulation, as well as hand-made and found objects in their work. Often eschewing linear narrative, and utilizing music, noise, and homemade sound effects as a priority over dialogue, these works employ a wide range of media in their creation— becoming versatile vehicles for both visual and performance art.
"Modern Language" is a solo exhibition of works by Amy Helminiak, a native Baltimore artist, featuring emoji-inspired collages that explore communication in the age of texting and social media. Printed on metal and incorporating symbols collected via Google images, such as Bernie Sanders heads, haircuts and pink elephants, the featured works focus on the artist's experiences and surroundings. Political observations, humor and personal histories are transmitted collectively, while at the same time embodying a sense of ambiguity that exists within the conversations of today's culture.
Amy Helminiak received a master of art in photography and design from ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, and a bachelor of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions including the TIM Future Centre, Venice, Italy; The Print Center, Philadelphia; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan; Cosmos, Arles, France; Can Framis Museum, Barcelona, Spain.
Ben Piwowar's studio practice combines drawing, painting and sculptural strategies, deploying an abstract visual vocabulary to evoke states of vulnerability and flux. With "soft obstacle," Piwowar populates School 33 Art Center's Project Space with works on paper and a series of cast abstract forms. The dialogue between objects and drawings sets the stage for a new, improvised installation that will undergo subtle mutations over the course of the exhibition. To develop his work, the artist draws on a trove of salvaged material: studio ephemera, cast-offs from construction sites and things found while walking around the city. He repurposes these fragments through paint application, light carpentry and strategic placement—taking care to preserve, and often underscore, their quirks and subtle irregularities. Piwowar explores the ways that modest interventions can activate and realign a viewer's experience of a space. Here, the gallery becomes a provisional ecosystem where displaced organisms learn to stand alone, then together, through a made-up logic.
The Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) has extended the application deadline for the 14th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition.
Applications are due Monday, February 11, 2019 by 5pm. The competition is open to all screenwriters. Applicants can submit screenplays in the feature or shorts categories. Scripts must be set in or can be filmed in Baltimore. The top entries in each category win cash prizes, and feature winners also receive all-access passes to the 2019 Maryland Film Festival and passes to local movie theaters. The application and guidelines are available at www.baltimorefilm.com. The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is a project of the Baltimore Film Office, a division of BOPA, in conjunction with film programs at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University. Funding is provided by The Arts Insurance Program, a division of Maury, Donnelly and Parr. Additional support is courtesy of the Maryland Film Festival, NEXTCAR and Visit Baltimore.
Submitted scripts receive coverage from students in the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University screenwriting programs and by local screenwriters and producers. The final screenplays are judged by film industry professionals. Winners of the competition are announced during the 2019 Maryland Film Festival on Saturday, May 11, 2019.
In the feature category, the first place winner receives $1,500, an all-access pass to the 2019 Maryland Film Festival, a Weekend in Baltimore Package, a rental car for the weekend and passes to area movie theaters. The second place winner receives $750, an all-access pass to the festival and movie passes. The third place winner receives $350, an all-access pass to the festival and movie passes. In the shorts category, winners will receive cash prizes.
For more information on the Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, call 410-752-8632 or visit www.baltimorefilm.com.


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Tag Archives: monsters
Should You Show the Monster?
January 7, 2019 drewchial	Leave a comment
I've long held that writers collaborate with their readers and that every reader makes their own artistic contribution.
Avid readers have stronger imaginations than people who experience stories exclusively through film and TV. As much as I love those mediums they're made for passive consumption. Books put readers in the director's chair. Sure the author chronicles the events, but its up to readers to visualize them. Readers have to cast the characters, provide the wardrobe, build the sets, and block out the scenes. The author does everything they can to make their story an enjoyable read, but the reader has to meet them halfway. Horror authors exploit this relationship by baiting readers into picturing their worst fears.
Have you ever noticed how the tension in horror movies deflates the more you know about the monster? The more you see it, the more you understand its rules and where it came from the less you're frightened. The monster is less of a living breathing part of your mind and more of a static thing on screen. Suddenly there's a barrier between the two of you keeping things safe and boring.
That's why many horror authors never show the monster. They leave the audience to do all the heavy lifting. This approach works well on people with active imaginations, but readers who don't feel like engineering their own bogymen feel cheated.
Horror writers need to strike a balance. Here are a few of my favorite techniques for doing just that.
Pose a Compelling Mystery
A well-placed spark will lure readers, like moths to flames, to their dread ridden doom. Pose a supernatural situation that's simple to grasp, but hint at an explanation that could only be an awe-inspiring revelation.
A young musician is walking home when he's attacked by a monster he can only see out of the corner of his eye: a wrinkled giant in tatters that may or may not be its own dead flesh. The monster unhinges its jaw, lets out a groan deeper than a cruise ship horn, and disappears. When the musician gets home he finds he can no longer play guitar. Turns out there are reports all over the city of artists experiencing similar attacks and losing their inspiration in the process.
An isolated woodland town is besieged by living nightmares, each one seemingly built to prey upon the resident's worst fears. While most of these figures have the intended effect others appear strangely tone deaf, almost comical, suggesting the hand of an agent that doesn't fully comprehend its audience.
Expect the audience to read your story over several sessions. Use those interruptions to plant ideas. Little mysteries for readers to mull over and leave them dangling at the end of each chapter. The best nightmare fuel is subtle. It works its way into readers' minds slowly until they see their daily routine through the filter of your imaginings.
Leave Evidence of the Evil
The monster need not take the stage to own it. There are many ways to feel its presence. Leave an orgy of evidence, and readers will craft a composite of the creature themselves.
Picture this.It's 1892. You open your chamber door to find it skewered. Something rammed the wood with enough force to leave hollow voids on the both ends of the knocker. You raise a candle to find craters leading up the cobblestones, and ripples in the puddles. Most of the oil lanterns have been snuffed out and the one that remains is shattered, belching flames.
This torch renders anything beyond it imperceivable, but you know there's something out there weaving in and out of the tree line. Why else would the owls hold their tongues and the crickets yield the night to the wind?
You feel cold narrow eyes moving up your nightgown, pausing on your belly and settling upon your neck.
Picture this.It's 2292. You're aboard a long-range starship. The fluid drains from your stasis chamber, revealing fracture lines across your enclosure. You call out to the computer, "Open tube."
The mechanism jerks hard, shattering the glass, spewing shards into the corridor. The lights that encircle the honeycomb hall blink red, some flicker out of phase with the others. Stepping over the jagged fragments of your chamber you find a bubbling black substance eating at the grates.
There's a long gash looping around the walls, leading to a pitch-black med bay. Something long and chrome shoots out of the darkness. A blood speckled gurney lands at your feet.
Have Characters Test Theories
For me the creepiest scene in Paranormal Activityis when Micha sets out prove the presence visiting his partner Katie is physical. Micha spreads baby powder down the hall leading to the bedroom and aims a camera in that direction. That night the couple is awoken by a commotion. Micha finds talon prints leading up to the bed and streaks in the powder.
What I love about this scene is that is confirms the supernatural situation without demystifying the creature. It raises more questions than it answers.
Describe the Monster as Indescribable
Did you ever write an "exquisite corpse" story back in grade school? One student would write a sentence and pass it to the desk behind them. Horror writers can play that game with their readers. Here's how. Just describe the effect the monster has on witnesses without revealing anything about its shape. This technique doesn't rely on smoke and mirrors. Your monster isn't skulking in the shadows. It's just so overwhelmingly hideous that it's beyond description. It's maddening.
"What did the beast look like?"
"Do you not see? It turned Byron's hair white."
This was a favorite device of gothic horror writers.
H.P. Lovecraft referred to so many of his terrors as "Indescribable."
Edgar Allan Poe referred to the sights beyond his chamber door as "Phantasmagorical."
Meaning: a dreamlike and deceptive appearance that changes upon further examination
Gothic horror writers used the neurosis of their characters to illustrate the monster's grandeur.
Give a Peak by Proxy
The hit Netflix film Bird Boxis about monsters with the power to drive people to suicide at the mere sight of them, most people that is. The monsters have a different effect on people who are already mad. Insane individuals feel compelled to worship the monsters, with the ferocity of cult members, corralling survivors and forcing them to bear witness.
The audience never gets a direct look at the monsters, but one tainted character gives us a peak. He lays out a series of twisted tentacle-riddled portraits on the coffee table. These rough Lovecraftian rendering gives us a sense of what awaits Sandra Bullock just beyond the blinds.
Use Hallucinations
In Paul Tremblay's "The Cabin at the End of the World" a character is struck in the back of the head and spends the rest of the story with a traumatic head injury. Sunlight gives him terrible migraines until he starts to see figures in the light. It's ambiguous whether or not these figures are influencing the events of the story or if they're a brought on by the bump on his noggin.
My favorite monster stories utilize strategic ambiguity. For every question the author answers they pose two more. That way when the monster does step into the light it retains its mystique. It's the enigma of the entity that gives it free reign over the audience's imagination.
The horror writer is the architect of shadows. The readers are interim landlords. We lease them the long dark hall and they fill it with their nightmares. Eventually we move our own terrifying tenants into these atmospheric locations, but only after they've been lived in.
Continue reading Should You Show the Monster? →
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Help Us Name a Dating Site for Monsters
December 4, 2018 drewchial	3 Comments
I'm teaming up with professional creature illustrator Bryan Politte to make dating profiles for monsters and we need your help naming the project.
Our Pitch
Horror writers take universal fears and intensify them. They add dumpsters full of oil slick tentacles to long dark allies. They perch gremlins on airplane wings and send great white worms into enclosed caves. While those fears prey on our animal instincts the fears that plague our modern world are social, romantic rejection being chief among them.
With all the new apps and etiquette modern romance is scary to navigate. We write bios to express what makes us unique, while burying our private peculiarities. We put carefully curated images out there hoping somebody likes what they see. We scream into the void and shudder when it whispers back.
I want to take that fear and add monsters to it.
With the help of my friend Bryan Politte, a professional creature illustrator,I'll be creating a series of dating profiles for freaks, demons, and urban legends. Bryan will illustrate each sinister selfie while I write the dating profiles, which will read like flash fiction horror stories.
Our goal is to make something spooky that goes beyond parody. Each piece will be chilling and heart rending at the same time. This won't be a mockery of the dating scene, but rather a love letter to the misfits caught up in it.
"Handsome Harold likes cuddly creatures and parties" Illustration by Bryan Politte
These monsters won't be exaggerations of the worst people you might meet online. They will be mirrors of all of us. These monsters will lead with their red flags in the hopes of finding someone who doesn't spook easily. They will overshare their sins in the hopes of being understood. They'll flaunt the things we hide. They will be every bit as monstrous as we secretly believe ourselves to be.
We think this concept is pretty cool. If you do too then help us out by voting on a name, and if you have a better idea for one then we'd love to hear that too.
Meet Noelle, a Hollywood transplant that's been subsisting on instant ramen and false hope. She's on the verge of moving back into her mother's trailer when her agent convinces her to take a meeting at the Oralia Hotel. Enchanted by the art deco atmosphere Noelle signs a contract without reading the fine print.
Now she has one month to pen a novel sequestered in a fantasy suite where a hack writer claims he had an unholy encounter. With whom you ask? Well, he has many names: Louis Cypher, Bill Z. Bub, Kel Diablo. The Devil.
Noelle is skeptical, until she's awoken by a shadow figure with a taste for souls.
Desperate to make it Noelle stays on, shifting the focus of her story to these encounters. Her investigations take her through the forth wall and back again until she's blurred the line between reality and what's written. Is there a Satanic conspiracy, is it a desperate author's insanity, or something else entirely?
Pick up HE HAS MANY NAMES today!
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My Reoccurring Nightmare
May 21, 2018 drewchial	1 Comment
I've been having this weird reoccurring nightmare. The thing is I'm not up on all that dream interpretation jargon. My brain keeps trying to tell me something, but I keep missing the point. Maybe you could help me figure it out.
The dream takes place in a vast palatial estate in the middle of the forest. I have no idea who owns the property or why they built so far from civilization. All I know is that the beds are always filled and that the guests have no clue how they got in them.
While this can be a jarring experience, the guests always seem to settle in. No one ever makes a break for the exit. Besides, where would they go? Every window looks out onto bark surfaces. The pantries are surrounded by towering evergreens. The dining hall is built upon a swamp and the bedchambers sit in a field of reeds.
The forest is well on its way to reclaiming the building. Maple seeds swirl through the skylights, vines droop from the rafters, and pollen is built up on everything like snow. Muskrats swim beneath the floorboards, frogs congregate on the windowsills, and raccoons and crows fight for perches on the shingles. There are cobwebs in every corner, nests in every crossbeam, and cocoons in every gutter.
For its part the estate refuses to go quietly. The support beams are always groaning, the foundations are always settling, and the shutters are always slapping against the side of the building.
The estate has a footprint the size of a castle, yet there are no grounds, no carriage houses, and no paths leading to the front steps.
There's only one way to find this place.
I come here on nights when I've spent too much time pacing the apartment, too much time in the kitchen drinking, and too much time on the pillow thinking. I lie down in the city and rise up from my bunk in the woods.
Despite the size of the estate I can't help but think of it as a cabin. Perhaps it's the pine strips stacked floor to ceiling, the hardwood screeching under foot, or the log furnishing. Perhaps it's the quilts hanging from the banisters, the moose antlers, or the smell of maple in the air.
I breath it all in. Continue reading My Reoccurring Nightmare →
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MY BEST PHOTOSHOP COSTUMES FOR HALLOWEEN 2015
October 24, 2015 drewchial	4 Comments
Every Halloween season I do a round of digital dress up for the site. Here's a collection of my best computer generated costumes for Halloween 2015.
Evil Ash from Evil Dead 2
Bagul from Sinister
Lipstick-Face Demon from Insidious
Samara Morgan from The Ring
"Makes sense to me"
"How does this keep happening"
Eyes with a Face
"That's not me"
"Drew smash!"
The villagers find Frankenstein's monster offensive
The villagers can't take a joke
The villagers find the windmill offensive
These images were inspired by Karin Dreijer Andersson's makeup in the Fever Ray's music video for 'If I Had A Heart.'
Now it's cool. We fixed the franchise, because… time travel
"Merry Sithmas to all"
Now this is embarrassing
"Well that's a horse of a different color."
"Nobody can see the great Oz, even I haven't seen him"
Hear no exposition, see no exposition, speak no exposition… or maybe just a little.
Continue reading MY BEST PHOTOSHOP COSTUMES FOR HALLOWEEN 2015 →
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Halloween Announcement Video
October 1, 2015 drewchial	6 Comments
Stayed tuned to DrewChial.com all October for horror movie recommendations, audio plays, flash fiction, and Photoshopped Halloween costumes.
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Syphoning Nightmare Fuel
March 30, 2015 drewchial	8 Comments
The Difference Between Dream Logic and Story Logic
People always ask authors where their ideas come from. In the case of Sandman creator, Neil Gaiman, fans always ask if he gets his ideas from dreams. On his blog, he answered:
No. Dream logic isn't story logic. Transcribe a dream, and you'll see. Or better yet, tell someone an important dream – 'Well, I was in this house that was also my old school, and there was this nurse and she was really an old witch and then she went away but there was a leaf and I couldn't look at it and I knew if I touched it then something dreadful would happen…' – and watch their eyes glaze over. Continue reading Syphoning Nightmare Fuel →
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My Best Photoshop Costumes for Halloween
I've done a lot of digital dress up for horror themed articles on my site. Here's a collection of my best computer generated costumes for Halloween.
The real reason for the season
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
Bride of Franken-Drew
"When I can, I prefer to eat the rude"
Frankenstein's Monster
People who know me, should've suspected my demon nature for some time.
The Wolf Man
Hellraiser's Pinhead
Was this article an excuse to to create this image?… Maybe
Pennywise the dancing clown from Stephen King's IT
What better way to celebrate Hannibal getting a 3rd season than to turn myself into Will Graham's Antler Man hallucination.
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Monster Mashup Part 2: Monsters taken out of their Element
October 27, 2014 drewchial	13 Comments
Just in time for Halloween, comes five flash fiction stories about modern monsters taken out of their element. Each one is dark, fiendish, and utterly comedic.
Be sure to check out part 1, right here.
Pin Drew wants to play a game
Pinhead finds the Rubik's Cube
At this point the Rubik's Cube wasn't a threat to Theodor's intellect. It was a threat to his masculinity. The orange side had been solid for half an hour. The other colors refused to go along with the program. His solution was to drink more wine.
Theodor randomly twisted the puzzle until he managed to make a blue T shape. He reverse engineered the process and replicated it on the other sides. He turned the bottom until he made a red cross. Another strategy came to him while he dug into the lower corners. He downed his glass and applied this method everywhere.
All that was left were a few straggling colors on the edges. Turns out, these were the bastards of the bunch.
Theodor chucked the cube into the fireplace, topped off his glass, and struggled to get the cube out without searing his fingers. He'd beat this thing, even if he had to get creative.
Several glasses passed. When Theodor turned the final piece into place the room began to shake. The chandelier swung back and forth, scattering crystalline patterns across the room. Either Theodor was drunk or there was something wrong with the shadows the lights were casting. Those dark spots didn't stop at the walls, they pushed through them, making holes, holes that grew with the swaying of the chandelier. The pendulum motion eroded the room, revealing four long caverns beneath the bricks.
Theodor peered in to see four figures approaching. They were dressed like clergymen in some kind of bondage gear. There skin was pallid, the color of death. As they neared, the light revealed tears in their garments where fresh wounds gushed in torrents.
A hulking creature entered the room. The skin of his upper lip was stretched over his head. His teeth chattered. A bald, but feminine figure, entered beside him. She had a ornamental tracheotomy with wires holding her throat open for all the world to see. A mountain of blubber crossed the room to join them. His eyes were sewn shut. The gashes in his chest were wide open, basting his belly in blood.
The trio made room for a final figure, who took his time stepping into the light. There were slits in his robes where a network of piercings zigzagged across his chest. His face was covered in a grid of pins, meticulously hammered into his skull.
Theodor fell over the arm of the chair he'd been sitting in. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Pinhead stepped forward. "We are connoisseurs of suffering, looking for fresh gashes to suit our palates. You solved the Rubik's Configuration and we came, so that you too may taste our pleasures."
Theodor ducked behind the chair. "No thanks, we're all good on pleasure here. Feel free to leave the way you came in."
The female licked her lips. "This one teases, claiming ignorance." Her throat opened and closed as she spoke.
Pinhead reached out. The cube flew into his grip. "We cannot return alone, not without some fresh flesh."
Theodor pointed over the armrest. "There's some ground chuck in the fridge. Help yourself."
Suddenly, the chair filled with a series of hooks. They linked to chains that drooped from the ceiling.
With a flick of the wrist Pinhead flung the chair across the room. Twirling his fingers he directed the chains into a holding pattern over Theodor's head.
Pinhead passed the cube from hand to hand. "All right, you've whet our appetite. The time has come for the main course."
Raising his hand to direct the hooks, Pinhead noticed a red square shaped sticker on the tip of his finger. He examined the Rubik's Cube. It was missing something. "Did you peel some of these blocks off and switch them around?"
Theodor tried to speak through panicked breaths. "Does, does that matter?"
Pinhead spun around on his heel. "Cenobites, return to the Labyrinth."
The female balled her hands into fists. "But he solved the box, we must play with him, pierce his flesh, draw his pain out into exquisite pleasure."
Pinhead shook his head. "It doesn't count. He cheated."
Pinhead tossed the counterfeit cube at Theodor's feet. Then they were gone.
"They all float down here"
The Clowns of America International Vs. Pennywise
Pennywise was already gnawing on the microphone by the time the attorney for the plaintiff approached the bench.
She folded her glasses. "Now that was a fine story. If this was the first time I'd heard of Pennywise: the dancing clown bringing balloons to kids at the hospital, I'd say you were a hero."
The defense attorney shot up. "Objection: badgering."
The judge twirled her finger at the attorney for the plaintiff. "Get to the point."
The attorney tongued the inside of her cheek. "Could you tell the court what those balloons were filled with?"
Pennywise fluttered his eyes. "Blood, but that's just because helium is so unhealthy for young lungs. Still, my balloons float. They all float down here."
The attorney nodded, unfazed. "In addition to offering laughter therapy, what are your other contributions to the hospital?"
Pennywise straightened his posture. "I deliver bodies to the morgue when the staff is occupied." He smiled showing a mouth full of shark's teeth.
The attorney grabbed a folder of her desk. Six hobo clowns sat at the table, gripping their bindles in anger.
The attorney waved a document. "Isn't it true that under your watch at St. John's, seven bodies went missing?"
The defense attorney slapped their desk. "Objection: speculation."
The judge rolled her eyes. "Sustained."
The attorney for the plaintiff approached the bench. "Permission to treat the witness as hostile."
"On what basis?"
The attorney looked to the demon clown, leering at her with those glowing amber eyes.
"He keeps flashing his fangs at me."
The judge looked to the stand to find Pennywise pulling a series of knotted snakes out of his pocket, discarding the slithering pile on the courtroom floor.
She nodded to the attorney. "Okay, I'll allow it."
The attorney for the plaintiff waved a document in Pennywise's face. "Isn't it true that you were the nurse responsible for delivering each of the missing bodies?"
Making puppy dog eyes, Pennywise shift his head back and forth. "May-haps."
"So what happened to those bodies?"
Pennywise belched.
The court erupted in laughter. Pennywise honked his nose and gave the gallery a little wave.
The judge struck her gavel. "Order! Order!"
The attorney snapped her fingers to get Pennywise's attention. "Are you familiar with the term coulrophobia?"
The clown shook his head. "Nyuk-nyuk."
"It means fear of clowns." The attorney motioned to the frowning hobos behind her table. "Clowns like the Clowns of America international, who feel misrepresented when someone claiming to be one of them takes a position in a children's ward with the sole purpose of feasting on cadavers."
Pennywise yawned, plucked out his eyes, and started juggling. "I get peckish, after a couple of cartwheels. So sue me."
The attorney for the plaintiff waved her hands over the clown's empty eye sockets. "Um, Mr. Pennywise, that's exactly what we're doing here."
Nosfera-Drew is always hungry
Nosferatu Goes on a Cruise
The passengers should have known something was wrong when they found bathrobes in the ballroom, slippers in the internet café, and jewelry in the buffet.
It wasn't until crew members vanished in the middle of their duties that people started complaining. Barbers left men with shaving cream dripping down their beards. Estheticians left facial masks to harden. Acupuncturists left patients full of pins. It was like they'd gone out for smoke breaks and never came back again.
No one noticed when the DJ went missing, because his playlist kept right on going. No one thought much of the skull in the miniature golf course, it fit the pirate motif, everyone just played around it. No one noticed the Blue Man Group's changing lineup, but when passengers came for an encore performance of the onboard musical, they were surprised to find the entire cast had been replaced with their understudies.
At night, passengers said they saw a strange shadow on the jogging track: a hunchback with ears like a bat. Others reported seeing something in the spa, waiting beneath the bubbles: a pale face with glowing yellow eyes and big buckteeth. Others saw the figure in the atrium, in a long black coat, riding the elevator up and down. It kept its hollow sunken gaze fixed on them.
The ship's final meditation session was cut short when a passenger opened her eyes to find the person next to her with a gaping neck wound.
The chief security officer couldn't deny it any longer. They were riding with a killer. The C.S.O. set a sundown curfew. The crew found his remains smeared across the corridor: his severed arm still hanging from the railing, his fingers discarded in potted plants, his head yawning inside a life preserver. What little flesh remained was lathered in pepper spray. It seemed like he sprayed his attacker and they acquired a taste for it.
That night, the creature stalked from cabin to cabin, smearing blood across the port holes, drenching luxury linens, and brutalizing mini bars.
The communications officer tried to contact the mainland, but something had gnawed through the equipment. The crew found his mangled corpse on top of the funnel, surrounded by discharged flare guns. When they discovered burn marks on the upper decks, they realized he was firing at someone.
By the time the wave pool ran red with blood, it was too late for everyone. The masts filled with bodies, with the flesh stripped down to their calf implants.
The few survivors barricaded themselves in the crew's quarters. They were forced to make a last stand when one of them moved some of the wreckage to retrieve her Botox injections.
By the time the toilets overflowed with sewage, there was no one left to complain. The ship was a ghost, haunted by a stowaway who slept between the engines. He hid in the dark and waited for the vessel to run aground.
Before deciding to run, Freddy Drewger thinks you should sleep on it
Freddy Krueger has that Dream Again
Freddy watched his prey from the shadows of the Nightmare Factory. The kid was a bookish little dweeb, in a tweed jacket with leather patches. When the kid walked through a steam vent the pressure revealed his teenage combover.
Freddy's guttural laughter echoed off the equipment. He chuckled until he felt something on his tongue, like a piece of gravel that fell in while his mouth was open.
Freddy swished it around. It felt like his cheeks were full of stones. When he spit them out he saw they were actually teeth. When he tongued the holes in his gums he felt a set of fresh molars coming in. They too fell from their sockets. When Freddy spit again a tooth got stuck inside his gullet.
Freddy coughed, but it wouldn't come out. He slit his throat, catching the tooth in his glove. It was too large to fit in his face, like a toy a dentist would keep on his desk.
He smirked. "Well, that was Freudian."
Freddy usually dug through his prey's subconscious, pulling out props, costumes, and sets, but this kid was pushing things onto him, a white blood cell attacking a virus. The dweeb had himself a powerful imagination.
Freddy had to assert his dominance. He listened to the factory floor, hearing footfalls around the corner. He turned to find his quarry just beyond the brim of his tattered fedora.
The kid squeaked at the sight of Freddy's charred peeling face. Freddy opened his glove, flashing the blades that made up his fingers. He ran them along the pipes, drawing out sparks, leaving steam in his wake.
The dweeb sprinted down the tunnel, charging right through the Door of Dread. Sunlight shined over the threshold, casting the boilers in an awkward light. The little runt was already leading the way to his deepest fear.
Freddy ran through the door to find himself in a high school class room. The students burst into laughter at the sight of him. Usually, the dream demon had full reign over the extras in the nightmares he was running, but these kids were improvising.
The teacher removed her spectacles. "Mr. Krueger. Where are your clothes?"
Freddy looked down to find he was wearing his glove and nothing else. His burnt skin was exposed. "I must have forgotten them."
She rolled her eyes. "I trust you remembered to study for your final exam?"
Freddy scanned the students' faces. Sure enough, the dweeb sat in the back of the classroom, hiding when he should've ran. Freddy made a beeline for him, when the teacher grabbed his arm. He spun around to slice her belly, only to find his claws padded with apples.
The teacher plucked one off and directed Freddy to his desk.
Freddy turned to sneer at the sniveling twerp, who was holding onto his pencil for dear life.
"Eyes on your own paper, Mr. Krueger." The teacher snapped.
Fine, he'd play along. If only to let the little bastard twist in the wind.
Freddy read the first question:
"12 friends agree to stand guard while the others sleep in shifts. They assume that everyone will need a minimum of 4 hours of sleep. School starts in 6 hours. How many groups will they need to break into if only 1 group volunteers to take 2 separate sets of 2 hour naps?"
Freddy sliced through the page, reducing the desk to splinters.
"Something wrong with your test, Mr. Krueger?" The teacher folded her arms.
Freddy shot up, "Listen here, you stupid bitch. I'm about to give you an education in pain–"
The teacher pulled a lever on her desk. The tiles fell out from under Freddy's feet. He found himself falling through the clouds right beside his prey.
Freddy shouted. "Seriously kid, we go from losing teeth, showing up to school naked, to falling through the sky?"
The dweeb flailed his arms. "What's your point?"
Freddy shrugged. "Nothing. I just had you pegged for a writer and this all seems rather uninspired."
The dweeb nodded. "Oh, I am a writer. I'm just kind of a hack."
Freddy shrugged. "Fair enough. Hey, which would you rather fall into: a pit of snakes or a pit of spikes?"
Weighing his options, the dweeb cocked his head. "Surprise me."
The ghost with most
Beetlejuice Messes with the Ghost Hunters
Steve, Jason, Adam, and Amy huddled around their audio equipment.
At first, the Ghost Hunters assumed a radio signal had bled onto their electronic voice recordings, but when the playback said, "Hey buddy, did the redhead come with you or is that cherry ripe for the picking?" they changed their minds.
Upon reviewing the audio the team discovered the same grizzled voice answering all their questions. Back at the old mansion they'd waved their micro-recorders in the air. At the time they heard nothing, but now this entity sounded like it was speaking right into them.
Steve's voice blared over the speakers. "If you'd like to communicate, please complete the following rhythm." On site, Steve had knocked on a wall to the beat of Shave and a Haircut, stopping just shy of Two Bits.
No one recalled hearing anything at the Deetz estate, but on the recording the entity didn't just complete the rhythm, he sang along, "Shave and a haircut, no shit."
Usually they had to loop an EVP over and over again, picking each word out of the static until the answers made sense, but this voice, grizzled as it was, came through loud and clear.
There was a piercing whistle. Adam jumped back from the audio equipment.
The whistle was followed by a full marching band stomping through a can-can with the brass section blaring and the cymbals crashing.
Steve turned to Amy.
"Is that Offenbach?"
Amy nodded, it was.
The grizzled voice returned with a southern drawl. "Come on down to the grand opening of Beetlejuice's Emporium of the Paranormal. We've got your residual hauntings, we've got your poltergeists. Demons? We got 'em. Every suite comes with HBO, vibrating beds, and a portal to a dark oblivion. Spend the night and get a wake up call from a shadow person."
Adam paused the tape. "This has to be a joke, right?"
Amy shook her head. "The EMF meter spiked in that room."
Adam's finger hovered over the play button. "Yeah, but there was something strange and unusual about that home owner. Miss Lydia Deetz, she was talking to herself the entire time we were there. She could've had an earpiece tuned into a confidant who was jamming our equipment."
Amy didn't buy it. "Did you get cellular reception in that house?"
"No, but come on, ghosts don't know about paranormal investigators, let alone advertise to them." Adam hit play.
On the recording, Steve asked, "What do you want?"
The music faded back in behind the voice. "Beetlejuice is the name, and all I want is to hear you say it. What's that Walter White?" The voice shift into a spot on impression of actor Bryan Cranston. "Say… my… name." Then it shift back. "What's that Florence and the Machine?" A woman sang, "Say my name" dragging out the last note on the word "name." Then it shift back. "What's that Destiny's Child?" Three female voices harmonized. "Say my name, say my name. When no one is around you, say Beetlejuice I love you."
Beetlejuice's southern drawl came back thicker than before. "That's right, all you gotta do is say my name. Not once, not twice, but three times and admission is on me."
There was a horn like a New Year's noisemaker.
"Come on down to Beetlejuice's Emporium of the Paranormal. Bring your unwed teenage daughters for a free season pass. It's beetle mania."
Before anyone could debate it, Amy did as he instructed.
"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."
The studio's fluorescent lights flickered off. A spotlight blinked on in the center of the room.
Beetlejuice boomed over the speakers. "Ladies and gentleman, please welcome your host with the most, a man who thinks The Exorcist was a comedy. If you haven't had him inside you, then you haven't been possessed. Here's… Beetlejuice."
The figure slid into the light decked out in a striped suit. His long thin hair flowed behind him. His eyes were encircled in dark spots. His smile revealed a set of yellow teeth.
Beetlejuice threw is arms open and his palms burst into flames.
"It's… showtime."
The character select screen for some beautiful fighting game
After getting a lot requests for prints of my art I decided to open a store on REDBUBBLE where you can find prints and a whole lot more.
artBeetlejuiceCenobitescomedyFlash FictionFreddy KruegerGhost HuntershalloweenHellraiserhorrorhumormonstersNosferatuPennywisePhotoshopPinheadStephen King's ITwriting
The Monster Mashup: Classic Monsters Gone Wrong
Just in time for Halloween, comes four flash fiction stories about classic monsters in compromising positions. Each one is dark, fiendish, and a bit more risqué than my usual fare, but those aren't the only things they have in common…
Drewcula has been caught red handed
Dracula Gets a Checkup
Dracula worked the thermometer between his canines. When he took it out it read seventy-degrees. The mirror over the sink hung open, reflecting an indentation where the vampire was sitting. He slammed it shut.
Maybe one of those bright young things from last night was into holistic skincare. He or she could've covered a zit in garlic. It could've run down his or her neck. Maybe he or she played a little too rough, threw out a tendon and rubbed garlic on to keep the inflammation down. Maybe it was still on his or her breath when he or she swapped tongues. That's the trouble with masked affairs, you never know what you're going to get.
Lying on the exam table, Dracula replayed the masquerade in his head. He did an inventory of everyone he'd touched and everyone who'd touched him. He counted bodies on his fingers. The longer he waited the heavier his eyes got. When he woke up the walls were covered in plastic.
A doctor stood over him in a hazmat suit. "Mr. Alucard?"
Dracula sat up.
The doctor flipped through a chart. "It's not food poisoning."
Dracula sighed. His bright red eyes traced the borders of the hermetic bubble. "What's all this then?"
The doctor ran his glove down a long list. "When the blood work came back, you tested positive for a couple of things."
Dracula examined his hand. "It's not silver poisoning is it?"
All those buckles and gags from last night, he'd just assumed they were stainless steel.
The doctor consulted his chart. "Argyria? No, but you did test positive for diphtheria, malaria, measles, polio, and typhoid fever, but it was the smallpox that got you on the CDC's radar."
Dracula stroked his chin.
"Mr. Alucard, have you visited any virology labs recently?"
Dracula shrugged. "Not that I can recall."
The doctor's mask did little to conceal his skeptical squint. "Think on it. There's two places you could've contracted it. Maybe you can remember if the guards spoke English or Russian?"
Dracula twiddled his talons. "I haven't been to the motherland in a long time."
The doctor nodded. "Okay, that narrows it down. Do you recall wandering into any subterranean layers sometime this week?"
Dracula clicked his nails together. "The bondage dungeon might have been underground."
"Might have?"
"I was blindfolded, escorted by a choke chain through a field of glass, nails, and razor wire." Dracula shook his head. "All and all, it was a pretty tepid affair."
The doctor nodded matter-of-factly. "Do you think you might have come into contact with any bodily fluids at this gathering?"
Dracula chuckled. "Might have? I was swimming in them."
The doctor tapped his fingers to the muzzle of his mask. "Now this is important, do you think any blood might have gotten into your mouth?"
Dracula looked to his feet. They dangled over the exam table. "Well, I do partake from time to time."
The doctor dropped his chart. "How long have you been drinking blood?"
Dracula tilted his head back and forth. "Since, maybe say, the rise of the Ottomans."
The doctor threw his hands up, walked to the border of the bubble, and turned on his heel. "Mr. Alucard, you might not want to give me a straight answer, but the CDC will want to know all about your bondage and bloodletting gathering. If you can't tell me where it was, can you at least tell me the name of the group who was running it?"
Dracula was already shaking his head when the answer came to him. He snapped his fingers. "The Aristocrats."
Franken Drew doesn't like what his bolts are picking up
Frankenstein's Monster inquires about his Donors
Victor watched the monster gaze beyond the balcony. The creature seemed less interested in the village below than the stars above. "Father, where did I come from?"
Victor joined his creation. He swirled a large glass of wine. "I thought that was self-explanatory. You were stitched together from dead bodies."
The monster squeezed his forearm, feeling for the place where the threading linked it to his bicep. "Yes, but where did these pieces come from?"
Victor gurgled the wine in his mouth, before gulping it down. "Well son, there once was a family of traveling performers…"
The parents were escape artists and magicians, while the children specialized in gymnastics and juggling.
They wandered from town to town, chasing traveling circuses. Every time they caught up with one they performed for the management and every time they were left in the dust behind the caravan. Until one day the father came up with an act so stupendous he knew the next traveling show would have to hire them.
Back then, I was not the surgeon I am today. I'd spent my residency giving first aid to carnies: treating animal bites, scorched throats, and unspeakable sexual maladies. I happened to be in the management's office when the traveling family came.
The father was a born hustler, promising fear, intrigue, and titillation while his wife, son and daughter stood with frozen smiles behind him. Management tapped his pocket watch. That's when the father reached into his sack and pulled out a pair of axes. We examined the blades while his family brought out axes of their own.
At first they simply passed their axes back and forth, like hot potatoes, but then they started heaving them, working themselves up to a fluid motion. Soon the entire family was juggling.
When the first blade slipped it claimed the young man's arm. Fluid shot out of the wound in angry bursts. The boy bit his lip without making a sound. His father instructed him to use the pain. The lad powered through until he collapsed. We figured it was part of the act, because the others kept their axes in play without so much as batting an eye at their fallen family member.
It wasn't long before an ax chopped off the daughter's leg. Now she must have been a tightrope walker in an earlier incarnation of their show, because she hobbled along on one foot without missing a beat. Her fresh stump sprayed blood into management's spectacles. He worked the droplets in his fingers, tasting them.
I'd suspected blood tubes and prosthetic limbs, but when the stench of rotten meat hit, I doubted my hypothesis.
When the young woman collapsed her parents kept her remaining blade in play. They now had six between them. The few seconds where they kept those axes flying were truly amazing, but it wasn't long before the father had lopped off his wife's head and her ax flew straight into his sternum.
Management sat petrified, realizing he'd witnessed something authentic and not some macabre magician's trick.
My horror was overtaken by my desire. Here I'd been paying grave robbers for fresh corpses when four of them were delivered to my doorstep. The family might not have been the best performers, but they were generous donors.
I was already wrapping up the bodies when the father reached out and grabbed my ankle. Blood gushed over his lips as he drew his last breath.
I don't know why, but I had to ask him, "What were you planning on calling this grizzly act?"
He smiled faintly and opened his arms wide. "The Aristocrats." Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
The monster peeled back his sleeve to examine his skin He spotted the scars where the axes left their impressions. "Father, I don't like this story very much."
Victor nodded into his wine. "You know son, I don't like you very much."
The Wolf Drew smells something funky
The Hunting of the Wolfman
The Wolfman ran through the forest. His pursuers were hot on his heels, breaking twigs, hooting, and hollering. What they lacked in strategy they made up for in numbers. He'd never backed away from a fight before, but there were so many of them in the clearing.
Spotting silhouettes in the moonlight the Wolfman had taken them for a heard of deer. Charging headlong he watched as they stood on their hindquarters. Spinning around he realized he was surrounded by bipedal beasts much like himself.
Their human frames had paws, claws, and big furry ears, but they weren't werewolves. They were werelions, weretigers and werebears.
A pair of ears rose from the underbrush, followed by whiskers, and big buck teeth. It looked like a giant rabbit feeding on a fox. It was clear, the food chain didn't apply here.
The Wolfman felt a breeze on his neck. He turned to find a weregiraffe looming over him. He fled before the creature's hooves could come crashing down.
The Wolfman sprinted downhill. When he heard the sound of rushing water, he thought he was in the clear. There was secret path across the river. Soon the rapids would be between him and his pursuers.
The Wolfman searched the riverbank for a bridge of rocks beneath the water. That's when a werezebra tackled him. The zebra held him down as a werepig undid his belt.
All of his pursuers rushed out of the woodwork, but rather than snap at his jugular, they feasted on the sight of him. The werezebra bent the Wolfman over as the werepig pulled down his pants. The crowd gasped.
The Wolfman felt his tail wagging in the breeze, a nervous reaction to the situation.
The creatures bickered.
"How is he doing that?"
"Maybe it's animatronic."
"Do you recognize that costume?"
"Are you sure this guy's a furry?"
"If he is, he's not a member."
"He's got to be, we rented every camp ground from the highway to the river."
The Wolfman snarled. Slobber oozed from his fangs. The werezebra let go.
The Wolfman spun around and bit the pig's snout clean off. He thought he'd taste blood marinating the raw pork he'd bitten into, instead he tasted cotton. He spat it out when he spotted a wire frame sticking out.
Scanning the other monsters the Wolfman spotted zippers, sneakers, and open butt flaps. The man in the pig costume shuffled back to the group.
The Wolfman tucked his tail between his legs and cleared his throat. "You think I'm a member? Member of what? What do you sick people call yourselves?"
They all spoke in unison. "The Aristocrats."
C-Drew-Lu rises
Cthulhu Crashes the Monster Mash
The nightwatchman shivered beneath the blanket. One side of his hair was black, the other had gone white. From where I stood his head looked like a Yin-Yang.
He sang, "I was doing my rounds, late last night. When something moved into my flashlight. A creature from the lagoon began to rise. And suddenly to my surprise…"
Then he stopped.
Detective Greywood shined his light in the watchman's eyes. The poor bastard didn't blink.
Detective Greywood snapped his fingers. "This is how he's been answering all our questions. We ask, he takes a few minutes to compose a verse, then he sings. It doesn't matter if anyone's around to hear it."
The watchman perked up. "He did the mash, he did the monster mash. He did the mash, it was a graveyard smash–"
Detective Greywood tugged me out of earshot. "You don't want that knocking around in your head all day."
"Was there a verse about a lagoon in the original song?"
"No, I think he's trying to tell us the assailant emerged from the pond."
"And the victims?"
Detective Greywood pointed to three sets of tire tracks. "I'm betting these lead to a hole in the fence."
We followed the tracks to three mountain bikes. One was handlebars deep in the muck, one was wrapped around a headstone, and one was dangling from a willow tree.
"I don't know art, but I know what I like." Detective Greywood pointed to a statue in the distance.
Its robes were brown with blood. There were cracks in its sides. Someone had driven severed arms into the granite. The statue's wings lay in the grass next to its head. Its face had been replaced, presumably, by the heads of all three of our victims. I say, "presumably," because they were wearing masks.
Detective Greywood tilted his gaze back. "It's not every day you see a totem pole made from Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman."
I didn't realize my teeth were chattering until I tried to speak. "It's got eight arms, like Ganesha."
Greywood chuckled, "Or an octopus." He slapped on a pair of latex gloves and pulled something out of one of their hands. "Yoink."
It was encrusted with blood. I didn't realize it was a video camera until he opened the viewfinder.
While Greywood watched the video, I investigated the scene behind the statue. There was a makeshift alter made from pizza trays and beach towels, fragments of candles sticking out of wax puddles, and an ancient book. Its leather binding was warped. It almost looked like a face.
"Detective Greywood, I found something."
Greywood stepped around with his head in the camera. He shut it the moment he spotted the book. "Well well well, old leather face, we meet again." He pressed his radio. "Call the bomb squad, tell them we need the remote disposal unit."
"The remote disposal unit is a robot with tiny metal arms."
I shook my head. "No, that."
"That's the Necronomicon: an account of the old ones and the means to summon them. Open that up and we'll have tentacles up are asses within the hour."
Detective Greywood sighed. "The elder gods created humanity as a punchline to an elaborate joke. Every so often, they like to get into people's faces and do a little insult comedy."
I shook my head. "I'm still not following."
"That book is full of heckles by Abdul Alhazred. Read them and you'll find yourself in the old one's spotlight. If the watchman's song is true those kids summoned one of the ancient water beings."
Greywood slid the camera into an evidence bag. "These boys were filming themselves reading from it, probably as a framing device for a video full of graveyard BMX tricks."
A strong gust upended the book. It skipped across the graves and fell open at my feet. The arcane script was so large I could see it from where I was standing.
I still don't know why I thought I'd understand those words if I read them aloud, but I did. "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."
Detective Greywood drew his weapon. "You stupid son of a bitch!"
The cemetery shook. Headstones shot out of the ground like corks. Steam rose from the pond as it boiled over. Tentacles shot out from the water. They wrapped around tree trunks, pulling something up from the depths. Water splashed across the crime scene. A giant figure blotted out the sun.
"Down here, you squid faced bastard!" Detective Greywood kept shooting until he'd emptied his clip.
The book washed up onto my shoes. I felt the pages flipping at my ankles, compelling me to read further. So I did.
"The outer ones, the old ones, and the sunken ones will come together, a cosmic collective of indescribable power, and you shall know terror by its true moniker: the Aristocrats."
"It was a graveyard smash"
AristocratsartcomedyCthulhudark humorDraculaFlash FictionFrankensteinhalloweenhorrormonstersPhotoshopWolfmanwriting
Audio Shorts, Blog, Multimedia, Music
Build Your Own Monsters (Audio Blog)
November 13, 2013 drewchial	Leave a comment
(Download the instrumental version here)
A question for horror writers, do you want your story to get buried in the bogeyman bargain bin, or do you want it to stand out? There are so many imitations of Frankenstein's monster, that people have forgotten its name isn't Frankenstein. Dracula has become a heartthrob, and the wolf man has been reduced to the nice guy who finishes last. The mummy's rags are stitched together with CGI, and Zombies have become cartoon characters who couldn't even shamble their way through a decent evisceration. The unholy creatures of the night, that kept us shivering beneath the covers, are the good guys now.
When all of your favorite monsters have been recast as superheroes, it's time to build your own.
characterizationcosmic dreaddemon possessionghostshorrormonstersmythologymythosscary storiesspoken wordspookyvampireswerewolveswriting
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text:
Anti-Infective Chemotherapeutic & Antibiotic Agents
Anti-Infective Chemotherapeutic & Antibiotic Agents. In: Papadakis MA, McPhee SJ, Rabow MW. Papadakis M.A., & McPhee S.J., & Rabow M.W.(Eds.),Eds. Maxine A. Papadakis, et al.eds. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2021. McGraw-Hill; Accessed January 20, 2021. https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=2957&sectionid=251686763
Anti-infective chemotherapeutic & antibiotic agents. Papadakis MA, McPhee SJ, Rabow MW. Papadakis M.A., & McPhee S.J., & Rabow M.W.(Eds.),Eds. Maxine A. Papadakis, et al. (2021). Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2021. McGraw-Hill. https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=2957&sectionid=251686763
"Anti-Infective Chemotherapeutic & Antibiotic Agents." Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2021 Papadakis MA, McPhee SJ, Rabow MW. Papadakis M.A., & McPhee S.J., & Rabow M.W.(Eds.),Eds. Maxine A. Papadakis, et al. McGraw-Hill, 2021, https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=2957&sectionid=251686763.


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Roger Federer's 2018 tennis season officially began on 30 December 2017, with the start of the Hopman Cup, and ended on 17 November 2018, with a loss in the semifinals of the ATP Finals. He finished the year ranked No. 3 in the ATP rankings. This season saw Federer improving his career best start to a season at 17–0 (21–0 if including victories at the Hopman Cup). Federer won his twentieth major at the Australian Open and extended his then-record of weeks at World No. 1 to 310 weeks in this season.

Year summary

Early hard court season

Hopman Cup
As in the 2017 edition, Roger Federer paired with Belinda Bencic to represent Switzerland at the Hopman Cup. In the group stage, Federer defeated Yūichi Sugita, Karen Khachanov and Jack Sock, from Japan, Russia and United States respectively, all in straight sets, to help Switzerland advance to the final. They proceeded to defeat Germany 2–1, with Federer beating Alexander Zverev in three sets before the mixed doubles decider, in which he and Bencic defeated the pairing of Zverev and Angelique Kerber. This was Federer's second and Switzerland's third Hopman Cup title overall.

Australian Open

Federer began his participation in the first major tournament of the year by defeating Aljaž Bedene in three sets in the first round. He proceeded to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff, Richard Gasquet, and Márton Fucsovics, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals. There, he faced Tomáš Berdych, defeating him for the ninth straight time in three sets and advancing to the semifinals. With Chung Hyeon retiring mid-match, Federer reached a record 30th major final and his seventh at the Australian Open, before defeating Marin Čilić in a five-set match to win his 20th Grand Slam trophy, extending his own all-time record. This was his sixth Australian Open title, matching the record of Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic for most tournament wins. At 36 years and 173 days, he became only the third man in the Open Era to win four Grand Slam championship trophies after turning 30 years old. This was the first time since the 2008 US Open when Federer was able to successfully defend a Grand Slam title, and overall marked a historic record 10th Grand Slam title defense.

Rotterdam Open
Federer was given a wild card to play the Rotterdam Open, where he defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Phillip Kohlschreiber in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. There, he defeated Robin Haase in three sets, which guaranteed him a return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings the following week. At 36 years and 195 days of age, he surpassed Andre Agassi to become the oldest ATP world No. 1 by more than three years and broke the ATP record for the longest period between two stints at world No. 1 with 5 years and 106 days having elapsed since he last held the No. 1 ranking on 4 November 2012, as well as the record for the longest timespan between the first and most recent dates that he has held the No. 1 ranking: 14 years and 17 days. In the semi-finals, he defeated Andreas Seppi in straight sets before beating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the final to win his second title of the year and his third title in Rotterdam, tying him with Arthur Ashe for most titles at this event. This victory also marked Federer's 97th tour level title and a record 20th ATP Tour 500 level title.

Indian Wells Masters
Federer proceeded to play in the first Masters 1000 tournament of the year, the Indian Wells Masters, knowing that he needed to reach the semifinals in order to keep his world No. 1 ranking. He received a first round bye and was victorious over Federico Delbonis and Filip Krajinović in rounds two and three. He then proceeded to defeat Jérémy Chardy in the fourth round and Chung Hyeon in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals, thus retaining his world No. 1 ranking. With a close semifinal victory over Borna Ćorić in three sets, Federer compiled a career-best 17–0 start to his season. However, in the final, he fell to Juan Martín del Potro in a close three set match, despite having three match points on his own serve.

Miami Open
Federer entered the Miami Open as the defending champion, knowing that he needed to reach the quarterfinals in order to preserve his world No. 1 ranking. However, after receiving a first round bye, he was upset by Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round. At world No. 175, Kokkinakis was the lowest ranked player to defeat a world No. 1 since Francisco Clavet defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the same tournament in 2003. With this loss, he lost the world No. 1 ranking back to Rafael Nadal.

Federer then announced that he would skip the entire clay court season, including the French Open, for the second consecutive year. Despite this, he spent one more week as world No. 1 – the week of 14 May 2018 – as a result of Nadal's quarterfinal loss in the Madrid Open. Nadal went on to regain the ATP rankings' top position the following week, by winning the Italian Open.

Grass court season

Stuttgart Open
Federer returned to the ATP tour to play the Stuttgart Open, which marks the beginning of the grass court season. He entered having won his last 12 matches in a row and 30 sets in a row on grass. After a bye in the first round, he proceeded to defeat Mischa Zverev in three sets to advance to the quarterfinals, ending his streak of 30 consecutive sets won on grass. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Guido Pella in straight sets. He advanced to the final with a three-set victory over Nick Kyrgios, thereby reclaiming the ATP No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal in the following week, and defeated Milos Raonic in straight sets to win the Stuttgart Open for the first time and the 98th title of his career. This extended his grass court winning streak to 16.

Halle Open
Federer advanced to the Halle Open, bidding for a tournament-record tenth title. He defeated Aljaž Bedene in straight sets in the first round, setting up a second round match against Benoît Paire which he won in a third set tiebreak after saving two match points. He defeated Matthew Ebden in the quarterfinals and qualifier Denis Kudla in the semifinals, both in straight sets, to reach the final. He faced Borna Ćorić in the final, but lost in three sets despite having a set point in the first set. This loss also meant that he dropped to world No. 2 after one week on top of the rankings. Nevertheless, the match saw an improvement in form from Federer, after a difficult run to the final. This ended a 20 match win streak on grass courts.

Wimbledon

Federer moved on to play the Wimbledon Championships, looking to defend his 2017 title. He was seeded first in a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2012 US Open. During his first-round match, Federer walked onto Centre Court wearing Uniqlo sportswear, officially ending his 20-year relationship with Nike and confirming the rumoured ten-year $300 million contract with the Japanese clothing company. He went on to defeat Dušan Lajović, Lukáš Lacko, Jan-Lennard Struff and Adrian Mannarino, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, he surprisingly lost to Kevin Anderson in a long five-setter (lasting 4 hours and 14 minutes), with a result of 11–13 in the fifth set, despite having led by two sets to love and having held a match point in the third set, ending a streak of 34 sets won in a row at Wimbledon.

North American hard court season

Cincinnati Masters
On July 23, Federer announced the withdrawal from his previously scheduled Canadian Open, citing his career longevity strategy. This way, he began the North American hard court season in the Cincinnati Masters. He started his campaign by defeating Peter Gojowczyk and Leonardo Mayer in straight sets, setting up a clash with countryman Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. He defeated Wawrinka in three sets, advancing to the semifinals to face David Goffin. Federer won the first set and Goffin was forced to retire in the second set with a shoulder injury. This set up a final between Federer and Novak Djokovic, which Federer lost in straight sets, adding the 46th chapter to their storied rivalry approximately two and a half years after their last meeting.

US Open

Federer moved on to play the US Open, the season's last major, as the No. 2 seed. He did not drop a set in the opening three rounds, defeating Yoshihito Nishioka, Benoît Paire and Nick Kyrgios in the first three rounds. However, Federer proceeded to lose in the fourth round against John Millman in four sets, having missed set points in the second and third sets before losing a fourth-set tiebreak. He committed 77 unforced errors, including 10 double faults, and only hit 49% of first serves in what was widely regarded as one of the worst serving performances of his career. However, Federer assured the number of points needed to qualify for the ATP Finals for the sixteenth time in his career.

Asian swing

Shanghai Masters
Federer started the Asian swing by playing the Shanghai Masters, the eighth Masters 1000 tournament of the season. Due to the absence of his rival Rafael Nadal, the No. 1 player in the ATP rankings, he was the first seed. As a top-eight seed, he earned a first round bye. In the second round, he defeated Daniil Medvedev in three sets, advancing to the third round, where he defeated Roberto Bautista Agut – also in three sets. In the quarterfinals he encountered No. 8 seed Kei Nishikori, defeating him in straight sets and advancing to a semifinal clash with the No. 13 seed, Borna Ćorić. It was their third meeting of the season, with one victory for each in the previous two. Federer ended up losing to Ćorić in straight sets and dropped to No. 3 in the ATP rankings at the following week.

European indoor hard court season

Swiss Indoors
Federer then moved on to play his home tournament, the Swiss Indoors, in Basel, as the defending champion. In an interview, Federer shared that he had sustained a hand injury in training prior to the grass court season that had caused severe pain in his forearm. He stated that this injury significantly hindered his play, particularly his forehand, from the Stuttgart Open until the US Open. In the first two rounds of the tournament, Federer defeated Filip Krajinović and Jan-Lennard Struff, in three and two sets respectively, advancing to the quarterfinals. There, he defeated Gilles Simon in a tough three-set match, reaching his 200th career semifinal. Federer then bested Daniil Medvedev and Marius Copil in straight sets in the semifinal and final respectively, claiming a record-extending ninth Basel title and the 99th title of his career.

Paris Masters
At the beginning of the season, Federer had not expected to play the Paris Masters – the last Masters 1000 tournament of the year. However, he was featured in the draw as the No. 3 seed and later confirmed his presence in the tournament. After getting a bye in the first round, he was supposed to face Milos Raonic in the second round. However, Raonic was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an elbow injury. Federer then advanced to the third round, where he defeated No. 13 seed Fabio Fognini in straight sets to set a quarterfinal clash with Kei Nishikori. In the quarterfinals he defeated Nishikori, also in straight sets, to set a semifinal match with Novak Djokovic, who was on a 21-match winning streak. In their 47th encounter, Federer lost to the red-hot Serb in three very close sets, despite having a set point in the first set.

ATP Finals

Having qualified for the ATP Finals, Federer was drawn in the group Lleyton Hewitt with Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori. In his first match, he lost in straight sets to Nishikori for his ninth defeat of the season. He then defeated Thiem and Anderson, both in straight sets, to ultimately win the group and secure a semifinal place in the tournament. However, in his fifteenth tournament semifinal, Federer lost in straight sets to eventual champion Alexander Zverev to finish the season.

All matches
This table chronicles all the matches of Roger Federer in 2018, including walkovers (W/O) which the ATP does not count as wins.

Singles matches

Doubles matches

Hopman Cup matches

Singles

Mixed doubles

Exhibition matches

Singles

Doubles

Schedule

Singles schedule

Doubles schedule

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

ATP and Grand Slam sanctioned matches
Roger Federer has a  ATP match win–loss record in the 2018 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is . Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:

  Nick Kyrgios 3–0
  Jan-Lennard Struff 3–0
  Aljaž Bedene 2–0
  Chung Hyeon 2–0
  Filip Krajinović 2–0
  Daniil Medvedev 2–0
  Benoît Paire 2–0
  Kei Nishikori 2–1
  Roberto Bautista Agut 1–0
  Ruben Bemelmans 1–0
  Tomáš Berdych 1–0
  Jérémy Chardy 1–0
  Marius Copil 1–0
  Marin Čilić 1–0
  Federico Delbonis 1–0
  Grigor Dimitrov 1–0
  Matthew Ebden 1–0
  Fabio Fognini 1–0
  Márton Fucsovics 1–0
  Richard Gasquet 1–0
  David Goffin 1–0
  Peter Gojowczyk 1–0
  Robin Haase 1–0
  John Isner 1–0
  Philipp Kohlschreiber 1–0
  Denis Kudla 1–0
  Lukáš Lacko 1–0
  Dušan Lajović 1–0
  Adrian Mannarino 1–0
  Leonardo Mayer 1–0
  Yoshihito Nishioka 1–0
  Guido Pella 1–0
  Milos Raonic 1–0
  Andreas Seppi 1–0
  Gilles Simon 1–0
  Dominic Thiem 1–0
  Stan Wawrinka 1–0
  Mischa Zverev 1–0
  Kevin Anderson 1–1
  Borna Ćorić 1–2
  Juan Martín del Potro 0–1
  Thanasi Kokkinakis 0–1
  John Millman 0–1
  Alexander Zverev 0–1
  Novak Djokovic 0–2

ITF sanctioned matches
His official ITF sanctioned season record for 2018 is . While these are official sanctioned matches per the ITF, the ATP does not count them in their totals. Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at time of at least one meeting. The extra ITF matches are as follows:
  Karen Khachanov 1–0
  Jack Sock 1–0
  Yūichi Sugita 1–0
  Alexander Zverev 1–0

Finals

Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Team competitions: 2 (2 titles)

Earnings
Bold font denotes tournament win

 Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

Awards
ATPWorldTour.com Fans' Favourite
Record sixteenth consecutive award in career

See also
 2018 ATP World Tour
 2018 Rafael Nadal tennis season
 2018 Novak Djokovic tennis season
 2018 Juan Martín del Potro tennis season

References

External links

 ATP tour profile

Roger Federer tennis seasons
Federer
2018 in Swiss tennis
2018 in Swiss sport

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Cooling 'brains on fire' to treat Parkinson's
The NLRP3 inflammasome (green) is expressed by immune cells (red) in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease.
A promising new therapy to stop Parkinson's disease in its tracks has been developed at The University of Queensland.
UQ Faculty of Medicine researcher Associate Professor Trent Woodruff said the team found that a small molecule, MCC950, stopped the development of Parkinson's in several animal models.
"We have used this discovery to develop improved drug candidates and hope to carry out human clinical trials in 2020," Dr Woodruff said.
"Parkinson's disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, with 10 million sufferers, whose control of body movements is affected.
"The disease is characterised by the loss of brain cells that produce dopamine, which is a chemical that co-ordinates motor control, and is accompanied by chronic inflammation in the brain.
"We found a key immune system target, called the NLRP3 inflammasome, lights up in Parkinson's patients, with signals found in the brain and even in the blood.
"MCC950, given orally once a day, blocked NLRP3 activation in the brain and prevented the loss of brain cells, resulting in markedly improved motor function."
There are no medications on the market that prevent brain cell loss in Parkinson's patients, with current therapies focusing on managing symptoms rather than halting the disease.
UQ Institute for Molecular Bioscience researcher Professor Matt Cooper said drug companies had traditionally tried to treat neurodegenerative disorders by blocking neurotoxic proteins that build up in the brain and cause disease.
"We have taken an alternative approach by focusing on immune cells in the brain called microglia that can clear these toxic proteins," he said.
"With diseases of ageing such as Parkinson's, our immune system can become over-activated, with microglia causing inflammation and damage to the brain.
"MCC950 effectively 'cooled the brains on fire', turning down microglial inflammatory activity, and allowing neurons to function normally."
The study is published in Science Translational Medicine (DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah4066), and was made possible by generous support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Shake it Up Australia Foundation, which fund innovative research into therapies for Parkinson's disease.
"We are extremely grateful to our funders who have supported multiple research projects on this target at UQ, and to their donors who support medical research for those living with Parkinson's," Dr Woodruff said.
The study was undertaken at the School of Biomedical Sciences and involved UQCCR Group Leader in Clinical Neuroscience Dr Richard Gordon, an Advance Queensland Research Fellow, and PhD student Eduardo Albornoz.
"The findings provide exciting new insight into how the spread of toxic proteins occurs in Parkinson's disease and highlights the important role of the immune system in this process," Dr Gordon said.
"With continued funding support, we are exploring new treatment strategies including repurposing drugs to target mechanisms by which the immune system and the inflammasome contribute to disease progression."
Media: Associate Professor Trent Woodruff, +61 402 361 612; Faculty of Medicine Media, med.media@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3365 5118.
UQCCR research shines bright
Women's egg quality dependent on metabolic factors
UQ leading the way in global reproductive medicine
Laparoscopic hysterectomies not the answer
High praise for Faculty researchers
Privacy & Terms of use | Feedback | Updated: 1 Nov 2018


It is always amazing to see the workmanship of the shoe industry from before the 1950's. Even more impressive is the work from the turn of the 20th century. Although machinery in shoemaking was introduced in the 1850's and heavily used by the 1890's, there simply seemed to be a higher level of workmanship all the way up through the mid 1900's, with respects to today. As I have said before, shoemaking now is brilliant with features that are beautiful, unique and that never existed before but I still feel that precision in the finishing and overall detail was taken far more seriously then. Take for example the stitching on the upper of the shoe presented. While this probably would not be a hot-selling item today and therefore probably never attempted, I still feel doubtful that the precision of this closing work (stitching on the upper) could be mimicked by the factory workers of today (to this level of accuracy). The question is why? And that question, to me, is very important….
If they were available now I'd buy them in a flash!
perhaps the factory workers of yesterday started at 14/15 years old … were kids of other shoe makers … starting to learn the skills necessary from an early age, its why tiger woods or a david beckham has more skill .. then there is tenure … they probably spent their whole career doing the same thing …. the same task, so neurologically as well as physically they are attuned to those specialised tasks .. finally, they probably worked longer hours, no 9 to 5 days … which unions later pushed though. this added to time spent 'practising'.
it's profit margins. nothing else. the constant increase of greed.
Perhaps it was a culture of excellence that produced that kind of thing. One has to wonder what worldview gives rise to such extraordinary displays of excellence? And furthermore one has to wonder what worldview our own contemporary world has that makes excellence such a rare commodity?


O.S. Speed 24K Gold Plated, High Performance, RP7 Turbo Glow Plug.
You will feel more power in the Low-middle range compared to a standard RP7, with quicker response to throttle movement and shorter time to reach maximum speed.


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Ecuador military calls Indigenous protests 'grave threat' to democracy
By Agence France-Presse
Demonstrators block a road near El Arbolito park in Quito, on June 21, 2022, on the ninth consecutive day of protests against the government. (Photo: AFP)
QUITO — The head of Ecuador's armed forces on Tuesday denounced as a "grave threat" to democracy the wave of Indigenous-led fuel price protests that have triggered regional states of emergency and a curfew in the capital Quito.اضافة اعلان
On the ninth day of protests that have seen roads barricaded countrywide, cost the economy tens of millions of dollars and left dozens injured, Defense Minister Luis Lara warned that the armed forces "will not allow attempts to break the constitutional order or any action against democracy and the laws of the republic".
"Ecuador's democracy faces a grave threat from the concerted actions of agitated people who are preventing the free movement of the majority of Ecuadorans," charged Lara, flanked by the heads of the army, navy, and air force.
President Guillermo Lasso on Monday extended a state of emergency to cover six of the country's 24 provinces as he sought to curtail the demonstrations.
The powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) — credited with helping topple three presidents between 1997 and 2005 — called the countrywide protests as Ecuadorans increasingly struggle to make ends meet.
Indigenous people comprise more than a million of Ecuador's 17.7 million inhabitants, and their movement has since been joined by students, worker and others feeling the economic pinch.
Police said Monday 63 armed forces personnel have been wounded in clashes and 21 others briefly held hostage since the protests began, while human rights observers reported 79 arrests and 55 civilians wounded.
Read more Region and World
Eight Israelis dead in Jerusalem attack
Jewish businessman buys Orthodox Patriarchate land in Jerusalem
Ben Gvir vows to storm Al-Aqsa despite Netanyahu pledge to Jordan
In Egypt, eggs are becoming a luxury and lenders are setting terms
Israel kills nine Palestinians in Jenin raid
UN appeals for $500m in humanitarian aid for Palestinians


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Tour to Armenia from Tbilisi
2-day Tour to Armenia from Tbilisi2 Days | Armenia
For those with a little extra time, but not a lot, this two-day tour to some of Armenia's most engaging and unique sights is a perfect opportunity. Start at Haghpat Monastery, a prime example of traditional Armenian architecture perched above a winding river, before continuing on to Lake Sevan, the jewel of Armenia. Explore Sevanavank Monastery, one of the most recognizable sights in Armenia. After an overnight in Yerevan, head out for a sightseeing walk around the city, which will cover some of the most important and picturesque sights in the Armenian capital. Make a final stop at Geghard Monastery, a striking monastery cut into mountain cliffs, before returning back to Tbilisi.
Day 1: Tbilisi – Armenian border – Haghpat – Lake Sevan – Sevanavank – Yerevan
At 09:00, our driver will meet you at your hotel in Tbilisi and take you to the Sadakhlo-Bagratashen Georgian-Armenian border point. Cross the border, meet your Armenian guide and driver to start the journey to the land of ancient traditions and oldest temples.
Drive to Lori region and visit Haghpat Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This stunning example of Armenian traditional architecture was erected in the 10-13th centuries. Standing on a hillside, Haghpat beautifully overlooks the Debed River. The location of the monastery was chosen to protect the peace and seclusion of the monks. Drive through Dilijan to Lake Sevan, "The Jewel of Armenia" and one of the largest high-mountain freshwater lakes in the world. The coastline of Lake Sevan is rich with thick woods, bare white steep rocks, mountain steppes and Alpine meadows. Stop at Sevanavank to visit the remnants of the monastery that include two temples – Surb Arakelots and Surb Astvatsatsin standing among numerous khachkars - carved cross-stones. The buildings were constructed from black tuff which probably gave the monastery its name Sevanavank – "the Black Monastery". The place opens up a magnificent view: the mountains surround lake from all sides and snow tops are seen almost on the entire perimeter and disappear behind horizon. Continue to Yerevan for overnight.
Driving distance: 370 km
Day 2: Yerevan – Garni – Geghard – Sadakhlo border – Tbilisi
At 08:30, depart Yerevan and drive to Garni, one of the major villages in Armenia famous for its fortress. The fortress is the only pagan sacred place from the 1st century that survived the aggressive introduction of Christianity in the 4th century. Next stop is at the monastery complex Geghard ("spear"). The beautiful landscape of Geghard is framed with towering cliffs. Decorative art cut into rocks reflects and explains the Medieval Ages development in this part of the world. The complex appeared in the 4th century as a sacred spring inside the cave. Return to Yerevan for city tour.
One of the oldest cities of the world, Yerevan is famous as a pink city and entrances visitors with its humble and at the same time splendid landscapes. Visit the Cascade Monument, which was the main symbol of the city's 2780th anniversary and has the equivalent number of stairs. The mega staircase is 500 meters high and 50 meters wide. A panoramic view from the monument opens to a breathtaking city view with Opera House, Mount Ararat, Swan Lake, Republic Square, and Abovyan Avenue, which you will also walk by during the tour.
At 14:00 – 15:00, depart to the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo Armenian-Georgian border point. Cross the border, drive to Tbilisi. Drop-off at hotel in Tbilisi.
Sightseeing tour program in Armenia with local English-speaking guide;
Entrance tickets to sights as per itinerary.
Yerevan - 1 night
Cascade, Silachi or similar Double Tree by Hilton, Opera Suite or similar
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