A heartfelt Gord Downie essay, Dancing Pumpkin Man and more arts stories you might have missed

Here at CBC Arts, you won't just find our original content — we also bring you the best art posts from across the entire CBC network.

These are the week's can't-miss stories:

Decoding Gord Downie's final masterpiece (CBC Music)

"In the beginning, Gord Downie was a flashlight searching the darkness for surprises, things lost, buried treasure, hidden meanings and arcane delights. There were so many middles and he was so many different kinds of shine: a street lamp blinking in the snow; the sun glinting off of Lake Ontario; a neon sign crackling through the night. He was constellations, fireworks, a silver road in the moon. Now, in his end, Downie is a lighthouse calling us home."

Dancing Pumpkin Man breaks down his internet-famous dance moves (As It Happens)

"To all his fans on Twitter, he's a seasonal hero. Every October, the video resurfaces to mark the beginning of the Halloween season. Matt Geiler — a.k.a. 'Dancing Pumpkin Man' — is the creative genius behind a YouTube video that is both eerie and ridiculous. As It Happens host Carol Off called up Geiler to learn more about how he went from local TV news anchor in Omaha, Neb., to the most famous groovin' pumpkin on the internet."

How a little Canadian web series about a lesbian vampire became a worldwide hit (CBC News)

"The YouTube series Carmilla has nearly 70 million views in its three-season run, fans in 193 countries, and has been translated into 20 languages. Now, it's leaping to the big screen with a full-length feature film. Part of the reason the series took off, according to Negovanlis, lies in catering to the LGBTQ+ community. 'Because it is a digital series, it reaches a larger audience. It reaches countries where being queer is sometimes illegal or not spoken about. So Carmilla provided this safe haven and online community.'"

8 "kids" movies that were way more creepy than we realized (CBC Life)

"Kids movies have a special place in our hearts, the wave of nostalgia an old film provides can put us right back on our parents' couch, eating whatever candy we wanted without a care in the world. But if you've ever caught one of these films in adulthood, you probably saw that our beloved memories obscured moments in these movies that were creepy, weird or flat out terrifying. Open your eyes, though they may be peeking through your fingers, at these 8 flicks and scenes from our days of yore that are way more terrifying than we first realized."

LGBTQ-friendly Waterloo church turns hateful graffiti into mural (CBC Kitchener-Waterloo)

"Parkminster United Church in Waterloo, On.t turned graffiti that was meant to attack their LGBTQ-friendly stance into a component of their new mural that celebrates inclusiveness. The graffiti found on the doorstep was meant to attack their LGBTQ-friendly stance, but is now part of a mural that celebrates inclusiveness at the church. Heather Power, a minister at the church, said she hopes the mural will show people that the church is still an inclusive and affirming place. 'Even when bad things happen, the good can come together and there's amazing things that can happen.'"

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