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Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Monday, October 5, 2015
Follow PaulT as he watches 31 horror movies in 31 days!
PaulT (aka: PlacesLost) is watching and commenting upon a horror movie a day all October.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Halloween Watch: Trick 'r Treat (2007)
Well, this was a nice surprise. I think a few of you had suggested this one to me over the years, but I'd always look at the poster and think "eh, this is one of those movies with a 'scary' antagonist that's more visually interesting than actually all that scary".
I watched the movie with pal SimonUK, and as the WB logo went up, he said "You know, I think this is going to be one of those movies people wind up watching every Halloween." Which, about 2/3rds of the way into the movie, I paused the movie and said "yes, I can see why you'd say that, and I think you're right on the money."
I watched the movie with pal SimonUK, and as the WB logo went up, he said "You know, I think this is going to be one of those movies people wind up watching every Halloween." Which, about 2/3rds of the way into the movie, I paused the movie and said "yes, I can see why you'd say that, and I think you're right on the money."
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Halloween Close-Out
Well, that was a whole lot of Halloween on this blog. I hope you kids enjoyed it.
I figured I might as well do a real Halloween blowout here once, so, that was it. I like me some Holidays, for sure, but Halloween and it's focus on lightweight scares, costumes and candy has always been a favorite.
In days of yore I might have tried to make more of Halloween night itself, but these days I'm pretty happy just to spend the evening in the driveway and get the chance to see the kids come up in their costumes. And this year we had a heard of turtles. Man, there were a lot of kids.
Some great costumes from Adventure Time characters to Kermit the Frog to Witches and Werewolves to somebody named "Minecraft Steve", who was the kid across the street with a box on his head. And, because memes never really die, we had The Honey Badger.
Jason and Amy came by, so we had some company as we handed stuff out to the trick-or-treaters. It's always more fun with company.
Anyway, it is a weird Halloween partially because the next several days are going to be nuts. I have serious meetings at work followed by a work trip to Denver that will last all of 36 hours and end on Monday.
Hope your Halloween was fun!
If what I saw at CVS when I popped in this evening was any indication, we are now officially in the Christmas season.
I figured I might as well do a real Halloween blowout here once, so, that was it. I like me some Holidays, for sure, but Halloween and it's focus on lightweight scares, costumes and candy has always been a favorite.
In days of yore I might have tried to make more of Halloween night itself, but these days I'm pretty happy just to spend the evening in the driveway and get the chance to see the kids come up in their costumes. And this year we had a heard of turtles. Man, there were a lot of kids.
Some great costumes from Adventure Time characters to Kermit the Frog to Witches and Werewolves to somebody named "Minecraft Steve", who was the kid across the street with a box on his head. And, because memes never really die, we had The Honey Badger.
Jason and Amy came by, so we had some company as we handed stuff out to the trick-or-treaters. It's always more fun with company.
Anyway, it is a weird Halloween partially because the next several days are going to be nuts. I have serious meetings at work followed by a work trip to Denver that will last all of 36 hours and end on Monday.
Hope your Halloween was fun!
If what I saw at CVS when I popped in this evening was any indication, we are now officially in the Christmas season.
Happy Halloween, Y'all!
About this time you people should be heading home to deal with little ones and to hand out candy. I hope your Halloween season was spooktacular!
Trick or Treat, smell my feet.
Halloween! "Frankenstein" and Edgar Winter!
If you finish listening to this all the way through, get yourself some Halloween candy as a reward.
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Happy Halloween! Monster Mash!
You are now legally allowed to play this song until midnight, and then it needs to go back in the vault for another year.
Happy Halloween! Vincent Price!
It would simply be bad form to celebrate Halloween without a nod to Mr. Price.
Halloween! Garth Marenghi's Darkplace!
If you've never watched Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, I cannot recommend this BBC show highly enough.
Here's the first episode.
Here's the first episode.
Halloween! Mickey Mouse in "The Haunted House"!
Back when Mickey was still scrappy and not afraid to throw a punch.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
October Watch: House (1986)
I kind of suspect this was a "you sort of had to be there" thing in 1986. I think I was a full 45 minutes into the movie before I figured out it was supposed to be funny.
Sorry to those of you who have a fondness for this movie. I think my comedy/ horror allotment was already filled first, in 1987, by Monster Squad, and then in 1993 when I saw Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.
Sorry to those of you who have a fondness for this movie. I think my comedy/ horror allotment was already filled first, in 1987, by Monster Squad, and then in 1993 when I saw Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.
Octoberama! War of the Worlds on the Radio!
On October 30th, 1938, the Mercury Theater performed a radio show adaptation of HG Wells' War of the Worlds. I expect that most of you will have heard of this presentation.
On the eve of Halloween, 1938 - war brimming over in Europe, Asia in chaos, science and engineering on the march despite a decade of financial instability - Americans tuned into the radio for their after dinner relaxation. Sure, everyone knew Halloween was coming, but like the first April Fool's joke sprung on you each year, it may not be the first thing on your mind.
The broadcast was the one that supposedly set the nation into a panic and had people driving around, shooting at water towers and running from imaginary space men. It also ended in folks calling for the head of Orson Welles - well before he decided not to sell any wine before its time or voice the monster planet in the Transformers Movie.
Monday, October 29, 2012
AXE COP. NICK OFFERMAN. GO!!! (Halloween, Cartoons and Awesomeness)
If you're like me, you're busily trying to model your entire work persona off Ron Swanson, head of the Parks Department on NBC's Parks and Rec.* Ron Swanson is played by the amazing Nick Offerman, the man manly enough to be married to Megan Mullally.
Mr. Offerman is now also The Voice of AxeCop.**
Here is the first clip from the upcoming show, an adaptation of one of the "Ask AxeCop" mailbag sections popular in the comic strip.
Bear in mind, the strip is written by a 6 year old. That may fill in some important blanks as you consider the mind-boggling sequence about to beset your eyes.
*and, seriously, Parks and Rec is one of my favorite shows right now
**thanks to Kristen B for the link!
Mr. Offerman is now also The Voice of AxeCop.**
Here is the first clip from the upcoming show, an adaptation of one of the "Ask AxeCop" mailbag sections popular in the comic strip.
Bear in mind, the strip is written by a 6 year old. That may fill in some important blanks as you consider the mind-boggling sequence about to beset your eyes.
*and, seriously, Parks and Rec is one of my favorite shows right now
**thanks to Kristen B for the link!
October Watch: House of Wax (1953)
When I was, maybe, 13, House of Wax (1953) showed on local UHF affiliate, KBVO.
It scared the bejeezus out of me.
I haven't seen it again since, nor did I catch the 00's-era remake featuring... sigh. Paris Hilton.
House of Wax was my first full Vincent Price film, and while it may not be as straight up creepy as House on Haunted Hill or weird as The Fly, it still freaked me out pretty well when I was the right age. It also gave me a lot of respect for Vincent Price as someone other than a guest star on The Muppet Show and Batman.
The film, while gothic in spirit, is shot during the era where Technicolor required a lot of light, and movies were offering up all sorts of color to compete with the monochromatic invasion of the television screen. The movie was originally seen in 3D, but I've only ever seen it on television, so...
It scared the bejeezus out of me.
I haven't seen it again since, nor did I catch the 00's-era remake featuring... sigh. Paris Hilton.
House of Wax was my first full Vincent Price film, and while it may not be as straight up creepy as House on Haunted Hill or weird as The Fly, it still freaked me out pretty well when I was the right age. It also gave me a lot of respect for Vincent Price as someone other than a guest star on The Muppet Show and Batman.
The film, while gothic in spirit, is shot during the era where Technicolor required a lot of light, and movies were offering up all sorts of color to compete with the monochromatic invasion of the television screen. The movie was originally seen in 3D, but I've only ever seen it on television, so...
October Read: At the Mountains of Madness (1930's)
Despite his profound impact on much of the fiction I consume, I've never read or consumed any actual HP Lovecraft. Like everything else, I just never got around to it.
What I'd read about Lovecraft's writing was interesting. Even by his fans, he's not considered to know much about how to turn a phrase. The term "purple prose" comes up a lot in the sniffier descriptions, but everyone acknowledges his wild imagination and ability to generate a palpable sense of dread that other writers strive for, but force with nameable threats and terrors.
With Halloween coming, I figured it would be a good time to finally delve in and check out what all the fuss was about.
I will not say At the Mountains of Madness is my new favorite novel(la). But it is a fascinating work - complete in its mythology, striking in its building of atmosphere and dread, and it feels like a single man's efforts to restrain an entire culture's imagination and mythologies, pouring them out onto the page with force rather than cultivating smaller ideas and lulling the reader with craft.
What I'd read about Lovecraft's writing was interesting. Even by his fans, he's not considered to know much about how to turn a phrase. The term "purple prose" comes up a lot in the sniffier descriptions, but everyone acknowledges his wild imagination and ability to generate a palpable sense of dread that other writers strive for, but force with nameable threats and terrors.
With Halloween coming, I figured it would be a good time to finally delve in and check out what all the fuss was about.
I will not say At the Mountains of Madness is my new favorite novel(la). But it is a fascinating work - complete in its mythology, striking in its building of atmosphere and dread, and it feels like a single man's efforts to restrain an entire culture's imagination and mythologies, pouring them out onto the page with force rather than cultivating smaller ideas and lulling the reader with craft.
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