Octoberween Day 2 Dorian Gray Faust Vampira and Plan 9 from outer space!

October 2, 2013 you would be surprised how easy it is to get someone to sell their soul to you, there was this one time in pottery class....but thats a story for another time. Today I want to introduce you to The Student of Prague, or The man who cheated life!

and was remade in 1926
 
The plot is one which is well known to everyone, we see it over and over again, from fairy tales and legends, of wandering poor shepherds selling their souls under a crabapple tree, a fiddler or a magician enticed by the devil to play for their soul and if they win they will get everything they could ever wish (also see the story of Robert Johnson who supposedly sold his soul to the devil so he could play the guitar and be a blues master who was then haunted to death by hell hounds on his trail)

Or my favorite version of the story, The Picture of Dorian Gray, its a different take on the base story adding instead of a mirror a painting shows the young man the deterioration of his soul for all the "sinning" he did. The picture of Dorian gray was written by Oscar Wilde in 1890 and has since produced numerous remakes, homages and this one beautiful painting by Alvin Albright I got to see in person in chicago

 

The Student of Prague and Dorian Gray show similarities with Faust

 In 1945 we have Donna Reed looking sweet and innocent as Gladys George Sanders as Lord Henry, Hurd Hatfield as Dorian and even Angela Landsbury

My first introduction of Dorian Gray on film was the 1973 version which was hosted by the gorgeous Elvira with Nigel Davenport 

While there are many more remakes of Dorian gray I honestly didn't care for them but I do encourage you to go and read Oscar Wildes Dorian gray http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/174 or Goethes Faust http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14591  

The October 2nd Lady of the day is the indomitable, the creepy as well as the classy Vampira!

 And her movie PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE!!! Also Starring Bela Lagosi <3

and in honor of Vampira's expressive digits the recipe for today is witches fingers!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds
1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel
Directions:

1.
Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
2.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
3.
Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.
4.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
5.
Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.