Take Five

Take Five for Dave Brubeck today.
RIP

Not Even The Flamingos Will Be Spared

Here's something that can bring a nice touch to your yard around late September before you start pulling out the real props.

You can purchase it here.

If only it were the weekend.

In The Wake

It's all over. Now for the elections, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the end of the world....
*sigh*

We, once again, enter into that void and continue to walk until we see that little shimmer of light. Hope your Halloween went well and I'm hoping even more that 2013's will roll around quickly.

Happen to take a look at the "ghost cam" last night?
If not, I don't blame you. If so, did you see anything? The answer is yes.
That's because I crafted a little gif and added a misty blur of a "presence" in one of the frames. Hey, you can't always get treats for Halloween.

Here's the "ghost cam" if you didn't get to see it last night:

I'll post the .psd file for this one sometime soon and offer it up for a download. You will then, assuming you have photoshop, be able to edit the title of the website and the address. If you wanted, you could even swap the photos out and create your own scenario.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween to everyone today!
I'd like to especially dedicate this year's Halloween to John.

See you later tonight.

P.S. If, for some odd reason, you haven't seen Google's doodle for today, I suggest heading over and taking a look. Their best Halloween doodle yet.

A Theme For Witches

This song has a very mystical and witch-like sound to it, I've always thought.




Tomorrow is the day. I'm excited, despite the snowfall this morning.
Our town's Trick-Or-Treat has already passed so Halloween usually feels like it comes and goes without much celebration unless it lands on that last Saturday of the month, but I'm excited nonetheless.
Hope yours goes well.
I'll be setting the ghost cam up around 6pm tomorrow in prep for it to go live around 7:30 ET.

Live Ghost Cam

I've always wanted to do this and I finally have the chance this year. There is an abandoned school building in my town that is reportedly haunted. Plenty of eye witness reports and a surprisingly high amount of EVP evidence as well. It's a well-known legend here, but many believe it's more than a legend. Unfortunately, I can't give you the name or story of the building in order to protect my own location privacy.

The city has granted me access to the building and will be allowing me to set up a webcam to stream on Halloween Night. It won't be "fully" live because of the location of the building and lack of wifi signal out there, but it will take an image every 5 seconds which will automatically update on the site. It will be set up in an area in the basement that seems to have a high volume of activity. I'm excited to see if anything turns up.

The cam will go live starting at 7:30pm ET and run throughout the night. We are expecting storms, though, so I hope the power doesn't cut out or the internet die on us.

So drop on by Wednesday night and watch the cam for a short while. If anything pops up, comment on a recent post and let me know and try to get a screen capture of it if you can.

Image found here.

Trick-Or-Treat Night

Last night was Trick-Or-Treat night for our town. The rain stopped early in the morning and the temperature was the perfect mix of chilly, but not so much as to make it unenjoyable for the kids. As I've said before, we don't get many TOTers on our side of the town because we live at the end of a street towards the edge of town and most of our neighbors turn their lights out (I've thought, many times, about egging their houses each year). All was well, though, and I had fun watching the kids live it up.

Here is a picture of a Jack I gutted and carved about 25 minutes before TOT started.

P.S. I have something cool planned for Halloween night. More details will be available tomorrow or Tuesday.

Mockingbirg Lane

It might be worth a shot. Here's the info:

Mockingbird Lane – Oct. 26 at 8pm on NBC. This is the pilot for the reimagined version of the classic 1960s sitcom The Munsters, now as a one-hour drama with a darker edge and tone. Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Heroes) is executive producer and wrote the script, which was directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men). In the series, Eddie Munster (Mason Cook) is a normal kid about to enter the horrors of puberty. Unfortunately, for him, becoming a teenager means that he will be growing hair all over his body every time the moon is full. His family is supportive, though, including his mom, Lily (Portia de Rossi), the daughter of Dracula; his dad, Herman (Jerry O’Connell), a variation on the Frankenstein monster; and Grandpa (Eddie Izzard), who happens to be Dracula himself. There is also “creepy” cousin Marilyn (Charity Wakefield), who’s the really odd one because she’s so completely normal.

Info and image found here.

Trick-Or-Teat, Give Me LOTS To Eat!

I am an avid fan of Sumo wrestling. If you look past the "Western" idea of it as two fat guys bumping bellies, you will see how strong and athletic these guys really are. Let's be clear, though. The term "bumping bellies" is awesome.

Now, forget the "it's a real sport" rant. I found this cartoon drawing to be perfect for a person like myself who is a fan of sumo and Halloween.

No clue who did it, but I found it here.

CONTROL!!

Take control over this man's Halloween decorations.
Extreme? Yes. For a good cause? Yes. Fun as hell? Yes.

The website is very cluttered and sloppy, but the controls are easy to find and you can see the results in the webcams on the left. Very cool that this guy has set this up. Click the link below to visit the site and enjoy.

http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/halloween_webcam

Headless Shirtsman

Found an excellent Halloween t-shirt over at redbubble.

Visit their site to order one.

Creep Show

Imagine turning on the TV late at night and seeing this:




Video by EphemeralRift.

Oops!

I've been neglecting the blog quite a bit this month and I apologize for that.

One word: midterms.

My last midterm will be taken today, though, and I plan to start posting regularly again.

Halloween Watch

This watch is the perfect accessory for the month of October. I'm thinking about buying one for myself.

More info on this watch is available here.

Eat, Drink and Be Scary

The Food Network has put together a nice mini-site together with loads of great content to make your Halloween party perfect.

Visit their site for all the fun.

The Mad Engineer

Song: The Mad Engineer
This song appears at the end of the episode "The Haunted Train" from the cartoon Hey Arnold! It was one of my favorite shows growing up and had a lot of great Halloween themed episodes.

Image found here.
Audio found here.

Vicarious Scares

Bummed out that you can't make it to Orlando or Hollywood for Halloween Horror Nights this year? Have no fear! Wait... scratch that. Do not fret! There we go. Because, thanks to the internet and video cameras, you can witness the excitement vicariously through videos of others walking through the attractions.








And my personal favorite because of the lack of night vision interference and all around coolness:



You can see more walkthrough videos from this year's HHN including the videos above without the night vision (hard to see a lot of stuff) by visiting this youtube playlist.

Not Trolling You

Witch Way Gifts has so many incredible items. Check out this Troll shelf.

You can find ordering info here.

Wallpapers

Smashing Magazine has some great wallpapers for this month that include a calendar. Some are Halloween themed, some aren't. I've put a couple of my favorites below.

You can get multiple resolution sizes and the other wallpapers available in the collection by clicking here.

Seriousness

Despite my love for Halloween, I believe that the politics of America are only slightly more important. Please, tune in to the debate happening right now and pay, at least a little, attention. I don't care who you vote for or what you believe is best for our country. I simply care that others should care.

Click here to watch the debate happening on Youtube right now.

Signs

Here are some fantastic signs to put the finishing touches on your house decor for the season.

A local restaurant in my town has this one hanging up and I can say from first hand experience that it looks marvelous. Click here for ordering info. 

Click here for ordering info.

Click here for ordering info.

Here We Go

Happy October 1st, everyone!

I'll spare you all the "I'm busy this time of year with..." speech and just say I'll do my best to get some good content up through the month. Expect formal posts to begin later tonight or tomorrow.

AMC Fearfest

I'm sure most of you, being the seasonal fanatics that you/we are, know that AMC Fearfest begins October 13th (appropriate number, don't you think?). If you didn't, well, now you do. Not only does AMC participate in the Halloween programming festivities, but they happen to produce the greatest show on TV right now, The Walking Dead. It's definitely a channel I respect.

View the site with all the details here.

Stream Cancellation and The Future

Due to various technical issues that would arise from doing the radio stream on my own, I quickly realized it could not be and, really, should not be done on my own. One reason is that it would be streaming from my own computer and using it as a server which would allow open access to my IP address. Another reason is that if, for some strange reason, a ton of visitors decided to listen to the stream at once, then my bandwidth would slow to a crawl. These and many other more technical problems led to the conclusion that streaming from my own "server" was simply not an option.

Because of this I have decided to cancel the radio stream scheduled for this Friday. No big deal, really. The good news, though, is that I have discovered a new, more effective way of streaming and plan on testing it out throughout the week and preparing a stream for the very near future. More information will be available when it's ready to go.

I have another cool bit of content for the site for next month. Staying on par, info about it will be available in the coming weeks.

ραδιοφωνο;

Update: Naturally, nothing works out as planned. Details will be available soon about the cancellation of the stream.


Translation: "radio?"

Yes, I plan on launching the radio stream next Friday, September 28. It will feature some Halloween-themed music you have likely heard and some stuff you likely won't hear anywhere else (as far as the dedicated Halloween radio stations on the internet).

The broadcast will begin at 9p.m. eastern. It will run for approximately one hour and will then go off air. I plan on providing a flash player so you can stream it in the browser, but a stream link that can be played in the media player of your choice (iTunes, VLC, etc.) will be available without a doubt.

It will more or less be a test for further streams so I hope everything goes smoothly.

Image found here.

Happy Hallo.... err Meal

Here is the next set of toys to appear at McDonald's in the Happy Meals:

It is based off a new animated movie for kids coming out. I'm just happy to see Halloween-style toys available for the kids because I remember loving those McDonald's toys the most from my childhood.

Image found here.

Got My Eye On You

Imagine turning a corner and being confronted by this:

Image found here.

Buu

Yes, I said Buu, not boo. This was a villain from the Dragon Ball Z series which I was a huge fan of as a kid. Here is somebody's interpretation of a "realistic" Majin Buu. Pretty damn creepy.

Image found here.

Halloween In Theaters

The original HALLOWEEN film is apparently going to be shown in theaters sometime this fall. Here are the minimal details available right now:

This October, John Carpenter's immortal classic, HALLOWEEN, will be making a return to theaters nationwide. This will be the biggest run the film has had since shocking audiences in 1978, and makes for the perfect early kick off to next year's 35th Anniversary celebration.  

Screening before the film will be YOU CAN'T KILL THE BOGEYMAN: 35 YEARS OF HALLOWEEN, a new mini documentary written and directed by our ownJustin Beahm, focusing on the undeniable impact the film (and series) has had on culture and the genre. The documentary will run at all screenings coast-to-coast.

More details will be posted soon over at www.HalloweenMovies.com, but before the press or anyone else found out, we wanted to share the news with you, the most amazing fans in cinema. Stay tuned!

Not sure if I'd go to see a movie I've already seen a hundred times in theaters, but I support the idea.

This info and the image were found here.

13 Nights of Halloween

ABC Family has released a preview video for the 13 Nights of Halloween for this year. Personally, I expect god-awful programming and a severe lack of enthusiasm for the holiday from ABC Family again this year, as usual.

Click the image above or click here to view the video on their facebook page.

The Mist

It was super foggy outside today and I found this little treat as I was leaving this morning. Halloween season is creeping in day by day.

Goldilocks Zone

The Goldilocks zone. The zone in which things are juuuust right. In this case, where is your Goldilocks zone for beginning to watch horror movies/specials? Is it still too early to settle in, turn the lights out and light the candles? Do you wait until October or have you begun the tradition already?

The time is almost right for me. The middle of September is when I start keeping my eyes open for TV specials and movies. What specials or movies are your favorites?

Mine....

Image found here.

Survival

I have survived the first week back at the university. What does this have to do with the blog? Nothing, but it signifies that September will be upon us tomorrow. Hopefully, things will pick up around here and I should have some cool things ready to post by the middle or end of the month in preparation for October. This includes the radio show (finally) and more fun stuff.

Scarecrow

I've always loved Batman: The Animated Series. It's artwork was dark and unlike any other cartoon show at the time. The image below is of the villain Scarecrow from the rebranded The New Batman Adventures. Such an eerie character with the artwork to back it up.

Image found here.

Iconic

Purchase one of them here.

In The Woods

Image found here.

Pineal Pumpkin

You know, because of the pineal gland.

Image found here.

Sharply Dressed

Image found here.

Lighting The Way

Absolutely love everything about this picture.

Image found here.

And So It Begins

While it may not be official on any calendar, August 1st has always marked the start of Halloween for me. It is the perfect time to start building up anticipation and excitement. Starting the season on September 1st makes sense because of the weather (in my neck of the woods, anyways), but that leaves too little time. And don't even get me started on the people who say Halloween season starts on October 1st. That is simply absurd, as I'm sure you will agree.

With that said, I have a question to ask you all. When does the Halloween season officially start for you?

Image found here.

Grandin Road Sneak Peek

Grandin Road isn't scheduled to reveal their Halloween 2012 Halloween Haven website until tomorrow (according to Rot), but a simple bit of URL guessing has lead me to the Halloween Haven site prematurely. Some of the links are still disabled and there seems to be some parts that are still needing updated to the new look, but the landing page is in tact.

In case you are one to wait for the full launch tomorrow, I have spared you the spoilers. For those of you who are eager to see the site, however, I have included a screenshot of the Halloween Haven mini-site and a link to the page as well which can be viewed by clicking the "read more" link below. Enjoy.

Halloween in July

Our favorite season is drawing near, but seems so far away at the same time. Here's a little something to spark some Halloween spirit into everybody.

UPDATE: The YouTube video has been removed by the user. The fun is over.

Happy Friday The 13th

I have been extremely busy with work this summer and preparing for the start of the Fall semester of school. However, I simply could not allow myself to miss posting on a Friday the 13th. So here's to hoping yours is frightfully terrific.

Image found here.

Skulls

Those Mayans were something else.

Image found here.

Halloween Horror Nights 22

Halloween Horror Nights has put up a teaser page for their HHN 22 event this season.... already. No word yet on the theme or anything like that, but I like that they are building a little hype for it this soon. You can check out the site here: http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/

The Witching Hour

Image found here.

Sinister Grins

Images found here.

Autumn Keys

Image found here.

Follow The Leader

Image found here.

No Color

An old newspaper ad for the premier of Halloween.

Image found here.

The Slender Man

An internet created mythos? Yes. A terrifying creature possibly brought into existence through the Tulpa Effect? Let's hope not.

Image found here.

Headless Awareness

There have been numerous stories about the severed heads of victims of the guillotine or other instantaneous beheading incidents being somewhat aware of their surroundings or even, to some degree, responsive to external stimulation such as sound or touch. One of my favorite stories is that of two bitter rivals being executed and having their heads put in a sack only for their heads to come out stuck together due to one biting the other with extreme force.

Now, the validity of these stories is quite debatable, but plenty of studies have been documented that seem to lead to a general conclusion that the brain remains conscious for roughly 15 seconds after separation and aware for at least 5 seconds. More stories and information can be found here, at The Straight Dope.

Quite spooky, indeed.

Image found here.

Eyes Like The Sun

May the fourth be with you.

We Interrupt This Program

That whole Halloween radio thing I mentioned many months ago is still in the works.
Details will be available soon...

Dark Legacy

A lovely, haunting tune.

The Witch House

Happy Friday the 13th

And the only thing bad that happened to me was when I spilled a little bit of tea while taking a drink. In fact, the rest of the day was actually stellar. Buddha must be happy with the way I've lived lately. Or maybe it was Odin. Or perhaps Zeus was rewarding my good behavior. Still an hour left, though. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to type this. Hope your day was as good as mine. And I truly mean that.

Foolish

So, yesterday's post was obviously an April Fools joke. If you noticed, each paragraph began with a letter that ended up spelling the word FOOL. The word "fool" within one of those paragraphs was also in bold print. I am not abandoning the site or my love for Halloween. In fact, now that the weather is warm, I am getting more and more excited for it to get here again. Carry on...

Goodbye

     For the last 3 or so years I have been in a slight state of depression with the Halloween holiday in general. No doubt, I get excited every October but that excitement quickly turns to slight bitterness and a lot of apathy. Halloween just isn't the same as it used to be and the joy isn't there for me anymore.

     Over the last few months you may have noticed a large decline in the number of posts I've made. This only symbolizes what I've been feeling for an even longer period of time. I started this website in hopes of regaining faith in the Halloween season, but it seems like it is just another commercial holiday that people buy costumes and candy for now. The kids I see trick-or-treating wear the most pathetic of costumes (black shirt, black sweat pants, face paint that is poorly and lazily applied) and less of a marketing angle to the holiday is used by larger companies.

     Of course, I will still pass out candy in hopes of sparking a light in the Halloween hearts of younger ones, but as I've gotten older (ha, I'm only 21) I've been let down with the lack of Halloween spirit around my neighborhood and around the world, quite frankly. I was a fool to think that a holiday that made my childhood great would last into adulthood.

     Let me finish by saying that all of the dedicated Halloween fanatics within the blogging/blogger community have been an inspiration and I thank you all for the incredible devotion. I find myself reading less and less of my once favorite blogs and that is a sign that maybe it's time for me to hang it up. This will be my last post. Thanks for all those who've visited the site, commented on the posts, and linked me on their blogs. Maybe I'll see you around.

π

Happy Pi Day.

February 29

Just thought I'd get an update in real quick. This will be the last time I can post on this day for another 4 years, after all.

Franky

Image found here.