Santor, he cometh

As we roll into the Holiday Shopping season...

As we begin the Holiday Season, remember that your Christmas shopping need not be just another annoying trip to the mall.



Try to enjoy yourself a little this Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving, Signal Corps!

Hey! We're taking the day off to spend time with family and friends.  Maybe hang some Christmas lights.  We hope you get to have a good day with those you love and their hangers-on.

We are all grateful for Pantsless Marilyn Monroe with a blunderbuss

Eat a nice meal. Try not to roll your eyes too much at Weird Aunt Gertrude.  Give thanks to the secular institution and/ or entity that matches your religious doctrine.

Depending on what the nephews ate for lunch, we could be witnessing the start of the first naturally occurring Turducken.

We'll see you later, when the schedule clears up a little.  Enjoy yourselves, and don't be strangers.

welcome to the Disney Thanksgiving, which was held this year just outside of Uncanny Valley

It's Thanksgiving Week, Signal Corps!

I shall be as bloated as this Thanksgiving parade balloon by Sunday

It's Thanksgiving Week here in the United States of America, and that means people will begin spreading all over the country in short order as we find time to rejoin with family and friends.  Or, of course, some of you may take advantage of a couple of days off and head for a long weekend on the beach somewhere.  Man, that sounds nice.

Anyway...

I just thought I'd get this out of the way before we got distracted by other things.

This year we've got The Dug & K en route to sunny Austin/ San Marcos, TX and we'll be having a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving that, for scheduling reasons, will culminate in Turkey Dinner on Saturday instead of Thursday.

I expect most of you will start disappearing by Tuesday.  We'll keep posting all week, I guess.  Catch up whenever you can.

Donald with a blunderbuss.  What could go wrong?

So Thanksgiving is a good time to take stock of all the things that are more or less going your way.  And as a 21st Century person of middle-class means, I suppose I've quite a bit to be thankful for.  Heck, living in the 21st Century seems to be something to be pretty thankful for when one considers the alternative of spending three months on a boat to end up on Plymouth Rock and then watching everybody keel over in your little colony from the plague, the vapors and whatnot.

So let's just put a big check mark next to "man has conquered some of nature, and I won't be eaten by an otter unless something goes very wrong" as something I'm thankful for.

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day, people

Today it's 11/11/11

Halloween Pics Not of Me

Oh, right.  If you have pics of you or your kids from Halloween, send 'em in.

Here's Peabo's kid, Owen, taking the fight for freedom to, what appears to be a Cap Metro bus.

Cap.  Cap Metro!  I crack myself up.

Kudos to Owen for a surprisingly accurate movie-Cap costume.

Let's hope justice doesn't mind tacking on an extra 30 minutes for the commute.

On Handing Out Comics on Halloween

Not every year, but when I see they are available via Discount Comic Book Service, I always order these short, inexpensive, undersized comics that fit into your standard candy sack.  They're always kid friendly and from a character or company whose characters I don't need to worry about.

Yeah, when I was a kid, I thought anyone who gave out pennies or pencils was kind of missing the point, so that's why we give out candy, too.

To comics fans, the cheap, floppy format is called an "ashcan" comic, but I'm not clear on the source of the name.  I do know its a format from the old days used either to create a copyright on a character before it goes into heavy print, or to give away as a promotional item.

This year it was Casper the Friendly Ghost, Donald Duck, Scary Godmother, and Roger Langridge's Snarked.

There are logistical concerns.  

• We don't know how many kids will come by, so ordering is a crap shoot
• I always hope the comics are gender neutral and I think this year's selections managed to do that.  Boys do not want a Barbie comic, but girls are will take all your Spider-Man comics, so you might as well order heavy on the "boys" side, if there is one.  
• And, of course, the kids take the comic and immediately forget about the nice lady standing there with candy, and every single parent has to say "there's candy, too", and the kid looks totally shocked and turns around to secure some candy.
• I also have no idea what kids like.  Do they know who Donald Duck is?  They certainly have no affinity for Casper as I doubt the Harvey cartoons have aired in 15 years, and the comics have a very limited release, as far as I know.  But I'm not a parent, and I don't know what the latest fad is for wee ones.

Tricks or Treats at League HQ - A Photo Review

This evening was a raging success at League HQ. We had over 100 trick or treaters, handed out tons of candy and comics, and generally had a good time.

Signal Watch Pal, HeatherW joined us.

Our haunted manor

Our merry jack 'o lanterns

In addition to bowls of candy, we offered a selection of comics

The reason the jacket is there is because Nicole wore it for a costume thing on Friday

Superman sez:  The first one's free

We don't like to do Halloween alone.  Here's some of our pals.

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Or, as I like to call it, "The Day Before We All Start Freaking Out About Christmas".

We'll be checking out for the evening as we prepare to dispense candy and comics (!) to the neighborhood boys and ghouls.  If you're in Lower Austin, do not hesitate to stop by for candy, comics, tricks or treats.  I believe pal HeatherW is joining us on the porch this evening.

Before we check out, please feel free to send in your pics of you or your kids!  We'd love to have a gallery posted of our beloved Signal Corps and their offspring at the most ridiculous time of year.

Email pictures here.

Here's an index of our Halloween posts for 2011.  OOOOOoooooooooo....!!!!

Halloween Interactivity! Day 8: The League - Part 2 ("Count Dracula, Jr.")

My brother will readily point out that, especially as a child, I'd pursue an idea right into the ground, based upon the promise of the idea far, far more than whether the idea were practical or matched up with reality.  In the manner, I went to college and got a film degree.

Insert drum fill.

So it came to pass in 3rd Grade that, after having been a "cute" character for Halloween in 2nd Grade, I was ready to be something a bit more scary in 3rd Grade.  

That prior year, we were all riding high off the release of ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, and my grandmother, having no idea what an ET was, sewed me an ET costume.  I was freaking cute as hell, but it was also a warm autumn in the Spring, Texas area, and I'd mostly remembered sweating through the shirt I'd work under the costume and wanting to take the mask off at every opportunity so I could release some of the heat building up inside.  It was like wearing a ski-mask in 80+ degree temperatures.

So, somehow the summer before 3rd Grade, I began considering going out as Dracula.  Both The Wolfman and The Mummy seemed to have the same "mask in humid Houston" issue, and I couldn't figure out where to secure a Frankenstein head except via a paper-mache project I was fairly certain I'd just sweat through, anyway.  

I made a list of what I'd need to become Dracula, looked at pictures, and was certain that my Dracula would not be a plastic-apron-costume variety with those pokey plastic face masks.  But...

1)  Dracula's opera-tuxedo costume was not something one could easily get their hands on, and 

2)  the more I looked at Dracula, the more I felt he was a bit of a dandy in our modern, 80's, Casey Kasem-driven-era

And so was born my own, unique, concept - Count Dracula, Jr.

Dressin' Up for Halloween - The League puts on capes

So, Friday night Austin Books and Comics had a costume party.  I haven't seen too many pictures surface from the party (I didn't take any, but I know others did).

The concept was "Arkham Asylum" - the insane asylum where Batman sticks all his villains.  Well, I couldn't figure out how to come as Mr. Freeze or Killer Croc, the two villains my size would probably have sold best.  And I'm a Superman fan at heart, so...

Good-Bye!

For years and years I've wanted to dress as Bizarro, but I always knew it would just confuse trick-or-treaters, and I didn't want to explain myself at any Halloween parties.  But at ABC, I knew these were my peeps.  Sure enough, people seemed pleased to have Bizarro in their midst.  And, yes, I was emulating "New 52" Superman.

And last night, Jamie decided we were having a Halloween Party.  Sort of impromptu.  I did nothing to organize this shin-dig, but basically we were supposed to be going to a party that didn't happen, so we bought some booze, and... instant party.

I went as "Low Budget/ Drunk Batman".

Monday night I'll wear the Superman get-up.  Its apparently a neighborhood tradition now, so I'm happy to do it.  I'll post a few pictures Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 7: The League (Part 1 - Movies)

Hey all!

I hope your Halloween weekend is going swimmingly.

Here in Part 1, I'll discuss an underrated SPOOOOOOOOOOOOKY movie.  And then in Part 2 - we'll talk costumes.

My favorite spooky movies are probably:  The Haunting, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula, followed by The Shining and The Thing.  None of these are particularly poorly-known movies.

And, as I've said, I didn't really have an affinity for horror movies growing up.  It was hanging out with our own JAL, Michael Corley and CarlaBeth that I finally saw some real horror movies.

Here's a quick rundown of some movies I think should get a mention.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 6: The Admiral

One funny thing about The Admiral.  Growing up, it was always impossible to come up with a scheme where he wasn't five steps ahead of you.  No matter what sort of bad idea you had, he'd done it first, and he'd done it worse.

The email I got from my father:

Oooo--K,

Not sure if this qualifies, but - in the category of poor taste --> In the late 1950's my best friend Bryan and I came up with the brilliant idea of costuming Bryan as Adolph Hitler and me as a US Army officer.  I carried a toy pistol which I pointed a him every time we went up to a door for treats.  Needless to say the reaction was mixed - at best.  

Dad

Well done, Admiral!  You get most f'd up costume story by a country mile!

Halloween Interactivity! Day 5: Horus Kemwer

Our own Horus Kemwer of Against the Modern World chimes in with his Halloween entry!  I think you'll enjoy, especially if you watch the clips.  

Underappreciated monster movie? Perhaps. Have you ever heard of it? Probably not. Bizarre, inexplicably nutty, yet strangely compelling cultural artifact from across the border? Definitely.

It's Caperucita y Pulgarcito Contra Los Monstruos (1962) from "the other Roberto Rodriguez."

The title is usually translated as "Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. The Monsters," but like everything else about this movie, it works better in Spanish. (Important tip: if you watch it, do so with subtitles, not the by all accounts atrocious dubbing.)

The film pits the tiny tots Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb (along with their trusty, and extraordinarily annoying skunk side kick) against "all the monsters we have known in fairy tales." These monsters apparently hang out in a castle together in "The Kingdom of Evil" plotting against our two heroes. Their sheer goodness (and their apparent ability to sometimes convert monsters from the path of evil) is enough to incur the wrath of the combined monster forces from all fairy tales (and classic novels, apparently, as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula are amongst the bunch).

Another category of "fairy tale" appears to be Disney movies, judging by the appearance of characters both good . . .



. . . and bad.



Still, the camps is hilarious, the kids are charming, and the songs good for a laugh. You won't be scared, but you will be astounded. And let's not forget the fight scenes:



And, as with all genre-crunching artifacts from foreign cultures, there's much that seems oddly out of place—e.g. sexual innuendo between Dracula and the Witch, torture scenes, and an invocation of Satan. Have no fear though, the movie is still resolutely G rated, aimed squarely at children from the planet Mars.

[Sorry, no costume stories - Horus doesn't wear costumes on Halloween.]

Halloween Interactivity! Day 4: Jamie

We cruise into Day 4 of our interactivity responses with some words from my house-mate, pal and beloved bride, Jamie (you may call her McSteans, if you so choose).  


1) Under-appreciated Halloween type movie

Not being the scary movie connoisseur that many of you readers likely are, I was at first stumped by this question. Most of the horror/monster/creepy movies I've seen and have liked are pretty well known and loved. So instead of an "under-appreciated" film, I have two bad movies I've seen too many times, thanks to boredom and HBO, that were not to my knowledge, popular.

The first is Teen Witch, the 1989 Robin Lively vehicle where our protagonist is a cute girl who for some reason (the script says so) is unpopular. She meets a tiny witch (character actress Zelda Rubenstein) who gives her a special witchy necklace which Teen Witch uses to make herself popular (of course). I don't remember much else about the movie, but I think we can safely guess lessons are learned about being happy with yourself or being popular isn't all it's cracked up to be, or something like that. The one scene that has been etched permanently into my brain is the jaw droppingly bad sequence where Teen Witch uses her new witchy powers to make her best friend into a rapper so her friend can impress a group of 80s "toughs" (guys in acid washed jeans with mullets doing a choreographed musical routine next to their car). At least I think that's what was happening. See for yourself, if you dare:



Top That!

The other movie I've seen too much is the sequel to Critters, the aptly named Critters 2. I think the original Critters was conceived attempting to cash in on the popularity of Gremlins and must have been successful enough to green light not one but three additional movies. Being easily spooked as a youngster (E.T. freaked me out, for God's sake) the "critters" themselves seemed relatively unscary. Plus they got style points for rolling themselves everywhere for transportation and assembling in the movie's climax to form a giant Super Critter.



This is why we don't have more cats


2) Worst costume choice

When I was about seven, my mom made me a black cat costume for Halloween. I loved it so much I wore it around the house all the damn time, all year long. It scared the crap out of our actual cat, but that didn't stop me. The cat costume made a repeat Halloween appearance the following year. By year three, I had clearly outgrown the stupid thing, but was determined to wear it once again. My brilliant idea was to scuzz it up a bit, wear weird makeup, colorful socks, and go as a "punk cat". Needless to say, I looked ridiculous. My mom just kind of shook her head and didn't say much, clearly knowing this was a bad call.

You know when you get a group of trick-or-treaters and there's always that one kid where you're just not sure where they were going with their outfit so instead of saying, "oh what a cute pirate/vampire/Batman!" you just blink for a second and say, "Happy Halloween!"? That was me.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 3: SimonUK

Hey all!


SimonUK has pitched in with his response to our "under appreciated horror movie" question.  SimonUK has seen, really, a ridiculous amount of horror.  Its kind of remarkable.


So, I take him at his word when he talks scary flicks.

Unappreciated Horror Movies. 


I'll start with Horror Express, a very weird Spanish/British co-production featuring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Telly Savalas- shouting alot as a Kossack, and a Thing type monster on the loose aboard the Orient Express. Loony ending and rock funk soundtrack despite being set in the 1800s. Very striking images and some genuinely scary moments. 


Cushing gets to say, "we're not monsters, we're British you know." 


This is the first horror film i remember and I had nightmares about 'red eyes' for weeks. 

Worst Costume


My worst costume was a bumble bee, it weighed a ton, I was very hot and nearly drowned when someone pushed me in the swimming pool in it in my late teens. And it wasn't remotely scary.

SimonUk's costume was remarkably accurate

we kid - the costume was this - 

okay, this is also not SimonUK, but I like to think he looked this charming

Halloween Interactivity! Day 2: Maxwell

We're back for Day 2 of the Signal Watch Halloween Interactivity!

Signal Corps, I'd be lying if I said we wouldn't welcome additional entries.  We'd love to hear what you've got to say!

For a quick review of the interactivity guidelines, just click here, and you're off to the (spooky) races.

Longtime Leaguer and now Signal Corpsman Maxwell (aka:  Cowgirl Funk) has submitted a response to at least half the interactivity.  She gets a gold star!

Maxwell, take it away...

I have a soft spot for the Peanuts gang and assumed that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a treasured and easily recognizable part of Halloween Americana.  In this delightful Halloween classic, Charlie Brown cuts too many holes  in his ghost costume, and only receives rocks when the gang goes out for "Tricks or Treats".

This, like most of my terrible costumes, was an overestimation of cultural relevance, and suffered further from poor execution.  Instead of cutting holes I opted to draw too many eye-holes onto my white ghost cloth.  The costume may have made more sense in a group of other ghosts, with a little more context.  Instead I looked like a ghost dalmatian with a bag of rocks.  Good grief.

A selection of additional poor costume choices:

• Abstract Art 
• Steve Prefontaine 
• A dead model from the 1999 GAP Mellow Yellow, "Everyone in Chords" Campaign

As a quick aside, I would have paid good money to see you in the Prefontaine outfit.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 1: My Brother

Hey Signal Corps!


We didn't exactly get a crippling flood of responses to this year's Halloween interactivity. I don't know if you're still worn out from last year or you didn't feel like putting up with my shenanigans for a second go-round. Maybe its the economy or sun spots. You're an unpredictable bunch.


Its a SPOOOOKY time of year, full of ghouls and goblins and sugar cookies.  And we feel this lends itself to a bit of personal storytelling.  I may personally be very scared of the unquiet dead in ghost form, and you might find the idea of the Moth Man terrifying, but that's what makes it interesting.  We've all got our thing.


This year we had two questions we asked.  Two fairly simple questions, I thought.   Well, not questions you people wanted to answer.


Luckily, we can always count on my brother, Steanso, to make sure I get at least one response.  I should note:  He kept asking me if he "won". So, everybody, he "won", okay. Let him have this.  


Now, from my brother...


1) Favorite underappreciated scary movie:

Does anyone else remember Q?  That giant, flying lizard was somehow both cool and a little scary when I was a kid.  Mostly I just liked big, giant monsters (I was a big Godzilla fan since the time I was about toddler size), and when I saw Q as a pretty young kid, it struck me as some kind of weird American take on the Godzilla theme.

Also C.H.U.D.  They were cannibalistic and humanoid and they lived under our feat.  Who wouldn't be made a little nervous by that?

And I liked Maximum Overdrive.  Giant, killer trucks.  It was funny and stupid, but the idea of being run over by giant, sentient trucks was still both entertaining and a little troubling.  ...I just read on Wikipedia that Stephen King (in his only directorial attempt) has now said that he was "coked out of his mind" during production of the movie and didn't really know what he was doing.  Somehow that movie about the angry trucks makes a little more sense now.

I've never seen this movie, but I always appreciated that the killer truck had the face of The Green Goblin

2)  Worst Halloween costume?

Well, one year I was The Blair Witch.  I wore a set of bobbly antennas and a black tee shirt.  The Blair Witch is muy mysterioso and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Another year I started out wearing a cool jawa costume that looked just like something out of the movie.  It had a big hood, a dark cover over the face, and eyes that lit up.  Cool costume for a little kid.  But it was also made of think, burlapish material and it was really hot.  Eventually I ended up taking off the hood and walking the streets as a small, sweaty Obi Wan Kenobi.  The neighbors didn't really get why a little kid would want to dress up as a short, stinky version of the old man from the Star Wars movies, but they gave me candy, anyway.

I've also been various things just involved clown makeup or fake blood (sometimes at the same time).  I used to wear this stuff when my band was playing Halloween gigs because it would be too hot to wear a mask.  Once the band got rocking, though, the makeup or fake blood would usually run, and I'd just end up looking like some kind of bruised, multicolored mess.  Nothin' to be proud of.

The Halloween Participation DEADline is TODAY

Hey Signal Corps!

The response to this year's contest has been more or less a trickle of emails coming in.  But I know you guys, and I know you WANT to participate.

Curious about the original post where we talked about this? CLICK HERE!!!

But here's how you can participate:



The SPOOOOOOKY QUESTIONS:

1)  What is your favorite under-appreciated horror/ monster/ creepy/ whatever movie.  What scary movie did you see that you were shocked to either realize nobody had ever seen, or you realized later: everybody else hates this movie but me?

2)  What was your worst costume choice (or that of a friend or colleague)?  What costume do you just completely and totally regret having worn?  Why? 

Timeline:

• Please send in all responses by October 19. 
• We will begin running responses week of October 24.

Relax:

Everytime we do one of these, you guys write in to tell me "I'm not sure what to say" or "My answer won't be good enough".  Poppycock.  You've all got stories, and everytime we do this, its a blast.  Just share what you've got.



Guidelines:

• You may submit three answers per question (maybe you have a whole list of schlocky movies you really like or just have no ability to put together a costume.  You tell me)
• Please keep profanity to a minimum.  Remember that my mother-in-law reads this site, and that we love Judy and do not want to make her sad with your swears and gutter talk
• There is no fixed length for your response, but please include a "who, what, where, when, why" in your answer, if possible
• You may answer either or both questions (or neither, but we won't give you credit for lack of effort)
• Pictures are welcome
• As editor-in-chief of this site, I reserve the right to withhold printing your responses with a clear conscience should you go off the rails, but I will be happy to talk through any issues I have regarding content of your submission

Send your submissions (or questions) to:  signalwatch at gmail dot com

Alert: Halloween Fun Deadline is Approaching!

hey, everybody.

I know it seems like Halloween is still aways off, but we've only received one submission for the Halloween participation-palooza.

This makes me a sad The League.  We can't really do this without YOU.

We'd like to get all submissions, if any, by October 19th.  So if you have a minute or two over the weekend, why not kick us a submission?

To read up on what you can do - CLICK HERE!!!