Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 18: Peter Kagan and the Wind

| October 18, 2011

On Day 28 of last year’s series I explored True Love as a Dark Sentiment. Today, somewhat in that vein but more than a little laced with melancholy, I’m going to expose you to a haunting tale titled Peter Kagan and the Wind written by the multi-talented Gordon Bok, and that only first came to […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 17: Still More Cannibalism

| October 17, 2011

If you just slid into Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, or any city in the world for your very first time, would you agree to go touring alone with someone you had only just met? If you have a death wish don’t bother to answer that, but most people wouldn’t. Yet every year people in search […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 16: The Duel

| October 16, 2011

The Duel By LFM Two men went out to fight one day, A grave insult to fix. Too wroth to even fetch their swords, They settled it with sticks. Their battle raged throughout the day, So bent on settled scores, Their weary seconds pubward went, And spent three hours with whores. Returning, as they crested […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 15: The Taxidermy of Juan Cabana

| October 15, 2011

Mark Twain wrote, “When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. But my faculties are decaying now, and soon I shall be so that I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 14: Now You See It, Now You Don’t

| October 14, 2011

In his About.com article on the subject of disappearing objects, paranormal phenomenon investigator Stephen Wagner does a thorough job of cataloguing the various possible explanations for a type of occurrence we’ve all experienced – something disappears and then later returns not only to the exact place we remember putting it, but most maddenly of all, […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 13: A Study in Consensual Cannibalism

| October 13, 2011

While Mrs. LFM and I have enjoyed their products, Canadian winery Sola-Nero for a time had a subtly unfortunate slogan emblazoned on their label – “GOES WELL WITH PEOPLE”. On this thirteenth day of dark sentiments we’re going to delve into one of the darkest of all – cannibalism. Most particularly, we’ll eschew the subject […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 12: The Art of Ray Villafane

| October 12, 2011

Dark Sentiments 2010 included a profile of the work of incredibly gifted sculptor Ray Villafane. Famous for his artistry in pumpkin carving which I focused on last year, he began sculpting professionally in the field of toys and statues based on comic book heroes, and since 2008 has been working his magic at sand sculpture.

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 11: Of Ambrose Bierce

| October 11, 2011

On 7 October 2010 I published here my article concerned the curious life and end thereto of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Tonight I’ll speak to another literary legend with his own dark baggage – Ambrose Bierce. Born 24 June 1842, Bierce was a prolific journalist and writer in such genres as the history of the […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 10: Adele

| October 10, 2011

Last year in Dark Sentiments – Day 12, Mrs. LFM and I collaborated in assembling a playlist of songs born of the darkest sentiments; the kind we characterized as, “Sentiments ranging from the acts of tortured souls, the anguish that can sometimes be born of love, hate, wounds that will never heal, and doors that […]

Dark Sentiments 2011 – Day 9: The Payzant Family and That Which Befell Them

| October 9, 2011

Signs leading into some communities on the south shore of Nova Scotia read, “We love the beauty that surrounds us and welcome you to share it.” Such a sunshiny bit of prose, but ’twas not always thus. The town of Lunenburg and its surrounding area was settled by Protestant immigrants of German, Swiss, and French […]