Items, annoyances, and electricity.

Hello loyal S&Pers!

So sorry for the delay, but two nights ago we lost our cable modem, wireless router, two tv's, a dvd/vcr unit and our answering machine to a lightning hit -- good ol' Ozarks Spring weather!

Funny how our stuff was taken out by the very thing that brought 

Frankenstein's Monster to life.

Oh well. We still have to figure out how to replace things, but we finally have our internet connection back, and for that I am happy and grateful -- I do miss this place when I can't get to it.

Another annoying bit of bizniz is that the site which hosts the audio files for the jukebox and the Hallowe'enith radio has been down for the last 14 hours or more, and I have not been able to upload the Easter songs I wanted to share with you.

Come on, Podbean, get with it.

So, as a small treat, I thought I should show off some of the cool little bits and giggles of Horror Goodness I procured at Monsterpalooza.

Nothing expensive (who has money anymore? Besides 2% of the population I mean?). But cool nonetheless.

First up, a few gifts from some great people.

My kind friend, the funny and fun Joe Moe, a renaissance man from Hawaii with music, art and writing in his blood, gave me a copy of the first issue of a new monster magazine he's involved with called Mad Monster!

I love the Frazetta Mad Monster Party art tribute for the cover, updated to a bit more modern monster flair. In fact I have to say that it certainly feels like a new kind of monster magazine -- it absolutely has that sense of info-visual-overload fun for the 21st Century -- and with animated flipbook-style corner images, crazy fonts, cut out haunted houses, horror paper dolls and other goodies, Mad Monster in fact feels very much like holding a cool horror website in your hands. I urge you to go grab it for the paltry price they're asking.

Another great guy and loyal S&Per, the incredible artist Bob Lizarraga gave me this splendid bit of sketchwork as a thank you for setting up that KTLA Morning News segment with Allie MacKay (you recall this post).

Yep, it's Henry Hull as the lycanthropic Dr. Glendon in Werewolf of London (1935).

To have two pieces of Lizarraga brilliance in my house is a real thrill (the other can be seen here).

Next, my friend Aaron Lewis, a fine sculptor, painter and maskmaker, whipped up these great little Shrunken Heads which sold out very quickly:

They are the heads you could make with the Thingmaker Fright Factory kit from the 1960s.

Just superb, especially with the 'fantasy' header tag using the Fright Factory box art.

I also picked up some very cool little horror pinback buttons from Creepycult, for my nieces, nephews and granddaughter Kiara. They all have theirs now, so I don't have pics of them, but I have a shot of the one I picked out for myself:

Of course, it's Duane Jones as Ben, wielding a two-by-four in the original Night of the Living Dead (1968).

The kids all got some kind of classic monster button, and I think it's neat we all

have a sort of matching set divided amongst us.

Speaking of the living dead, I also picked up this set of ghoulish finger puppets:

There was actually a fourth ghoul in the set, but I gave that one to my mother as
a gift for her birthday, which was April 8th. Mom gets a zombie finger puppet
'cause that's how I roll. She loved it, by the way.

And here they are in their natural habitat on my zombie shelf:

Lastly (for now), the very cool David Colton, the guy who heads up those Rondo Horror Awards I keep harping about every Spring, gave me a real button as a thanks for all the virtual buttons I post here at the S&P:

Awesome.

Well, damnit, we continue to deal with flooding rains and lightning all day and night, so I need to duck out now and unplug things before we lose another set of expensive things.

Geez nature, lighten UP!

DUMDUMSHREKPEEPS!

Addendum to Young Will's Hallowe'en Spree, pt. 3

When you're exploring the goods and giggles of the retail Hallowe'en experience, especially if you're chronicling the adventure for your Hallowe'en pub, you take a lot of pictures.

Funny items, stupid items, baffling items.

You take them all because you don't know which you'll use for the 'blog -- and because you just want your own proof that some manufacturer thought Gummi Brains filled with Bloody Candy Fluid was a good idea (ironically, though I use that as my example I do not actually have a picture of that item, which can be found at Walgreens).

But there were a few things I noticed on our last trip for which I had no room to comment on our last installment, and I felt the need to tack this one on.

Does anyone else find the current trend in bland or baffling product names annoying (and disturbing)?

For example:

That's right, zoom in:

I mean, mummies are many things, but 'ominous'?

What's ominous about something that cannot move its hands?

The description is a bit nebulous.  

Nebulous Mummy would be as good.

It's probably just as well -- most of the people shopping for it 

out here would probably think 'ominous' meant 

the mummy was Jewish or something.

Also, the word 'ominous' begins to look very strange 

the more you look at it.

Forbidden Fabric. Really?

Forbidden!?

"Oooh, look at those windo--"

"HEY! That's illegal! You can't do that!"

The Verboten Valance. 

Amazing.

A Giant Ambush Spiderweb.

Yes, 'ambush'... because you'd never see 

that web coming.

Hanging, sure.

Creep, okay. Looks more like Oogie Boogie, but he

was kinda creepy too, so I'll go with that.

But... Possessed? 

By what/whom? I see no little sixes, 

no pea soup projectiles, no spinning heads.

It's a GHOST. Should've called it that.

I didn't get a shot of the actual hat, because it was simply a hard felt 

set of different colored cowboy hats with sequined bands.

But 'Howdy Honey Hat' is just trashy.

"Howdy, honey! Buy me a beer/light my cig?"-kind-of-trashy.

Also, Howdy Honeyhat was a character from The Wacky Races, I think.

Probably the one dressed like a Hooters girl always wanting everyone to 

buy her a beer and light her cigarettes.

First, why should comb over mean 

Young Horshack Guy Poses Like Old Man

Who Must Be Bitter And Admonishing?

Also, I thought comb over was one word.

I guess my thick head of luxurious hair kept that

information from getting in.

Werewolf Howler Hands?

We tried a million ways to make these things howl.

Nothing.

Does this store want us to think they think werewolves are called

werewolf howlers?

Then comes a series of odd little things. 

Things I actually like, and would enjoy handing out

to little ToTs, but the concepts are a bit weird.

Mice, rubber mice, plastic mice, fine.

Stretchy, though? 

Still not as threatening as this:

Good God! That's a terrifying thought.
An army of stretchy frogs invading our cities!

Sorry, Frog Queen, but this is not as terrifying to me as 

the army of stretchy frogs.

Still, it's a bit shivery.

I get that they're eyepatches with actual eyes on them.

Not too unclever, I suppose.

But what exactly is so 'zany' about the idea?

What kid would want it based on the term zany anyway?

I mean, who really uses that word for anything anymore?

Lastly, this time around, I have to emit a real bronx cheer for 

this manufacturer so badly missing some easy, slam-dunk,

home run item naming opportunities...

God, come on! 

They're Eeriasers!

Say it with me. That's right:

Possencils!

I can understand why they might have stayed away

from this one (had they thought of it, which I know

they didn't!), but seriously, these are

Boobles!

And if you go back up to the pic of the Stretchy Mice,

and look to the right, you'll see the blandly named

Fake Fangs.

Which should be called Fanks.

Yes, fanks.

You're welcome.

DDSPOSSENCILS!

Better late than never.

I thought I heard the doors rattling... glad you're here! I'm trying a little experiment.

See, I have been trying for a month now to somehow post a slideshow of an old book, but a slideshow that you, the viewer, can control on your own, and which (being a book) would be readable, legible, given the size of the post area on the average blog.

The book? Oh, it's that great '70s handbook for Monster Kids, Movie Monsters!

 

Published by (who else?) Scholastic Books in 1975,  it was the brainchild of one Alan Ormsby -- writer/actor (Deathdream, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things), and Monster Kid extraordinaire. Ray Prohaska did all the fabulous and long-studied illustrations.

Alan Ormsby, by the by, also concocted the terrifying master-of-disguise puppet toy Hugo: Man Of A Thousand Faces:

 

 (Source)

For this act alone, Mr. Ormsby is worthy of many, many salaams.

The book was a staple for Hallowe'en and Horror Lovin' Kids in the '70s, and contains great images and short histories of the most famous of the Famous Monsters...

 

 ... an invaluable section on making your own incredible Monster Make-Ups...

 

 ... not just for the Guys but the Ladies, too...

 ... and even a short stage play to produce in your own livingroom, auditorium, or uncle's barn you can turn into a theatre...

 

There are also some very fun effects tricks in this playlet which are explained afterward...

This was a classic, inspiring book for young October Folk like me. 

So now, this slideshow thing... see, I have a nice but somewhat brittle copy of this book, which was a gift from a buddy, too... and I really didn't want to press it into a scanner, so I took pictures instead. Tripod, bright enough light, they came out quite fine (for not being scanned). 

The thing is I now have the entire book viewable, readable, on my hard drive. 

Others have written about this book, and I really can't add anything new to the praise; I just thought being able to have the whole long-out-of-print book available online somewhere would be really nice for Monster Kids and Hallowe'en Lovers (the make-up ideas are still very relevant and eminently usable with success for your own kids!)...

So go here to see a slideshow I've made of the entire book. Each page break can be paused, and enlarged, for perusing at your leisure -- hopefully I have the pages in the right order. Also, the slideshow should be public, and you should have no password prompt to view it.

Ah, I hope this works. But whether it does or doesn't, please inform me.  I don't like to experiment too often. Well, not on loyal guests, at any rate...

... that thing on the slab down in the basement is another story.

O'ZOM-beeee!

Random Picture # 321

Random Picture of Things That Made Me Me, #321:

Imagineering, Inc.'s Ugly Kit (KT-66).

I seem to recall receiving one of these on at least two different birthdays and one Christmas.

I know, best Christmas present ever, right? Well, close, but no. I believe I mentioned the Greatest Christmas Ever gifts in this post. However, this is right up there. I mean, c'mon. Ya got scars, green monster fangs and those too-awesome-for-kid-words bloodshot eyes!

Everything Imagineering Inc. ever made seemed to become a playtime constant in my young life.

By the by, I have forgotten who sent me this image, forgive me! If you're reading this, please remind me so I can credit you!


And of course, if someone out there has one of these kits they're not using at the moment... well, I've talked too long for this post to be all that 'random'.

ZOM-beeee!

Legends of Sleepy Hollow.

... or Legend of Sleepy Hollows.

Sleepies Hollow?

Moving on.

We were watching a special about the American Revolutionary War on some big cable channel that always plays stuff about 'history' (the name of the channel escapes me). We fell to talking about other nations and peoples that were involved in the War for Independence, and she brought up Hessians... and it got me thinking about conscripted soldiers, Redcoats, brown coats and no coats in the snow, muskets, horses, and horsemen.

Headless horsemen.

I've mentioned Washington Irving's best known spectre before, with an old LP download here, and a fine poem from a friend here. This last inspired me to put Bing's classic cut of the Headless Horseman song on the ol' S&P jukebox for a time.

But other than my friend's poetry, all of those previous references were strictly in the Disney vein. I thought a quick look at other treasures based on the tale would be great discussion for this li'l ol' pub...

Don't mistake me. I love the 1949 Disney version with a passion, and I submit most of us under the age of 55 or so would have not been exposed to this classic story as early as we were, but for The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad.

If anyone has this sheet music, please just give it to me. Please.

I have a Legend of Sleepy Hollow shelf in my room, and there are a few Disney version goodies residing there...

...like this very cool and pretty pin set, along with two sweet little Headless & Ichabod plushies from the Disney Store years ago (you'll see them at the far right end of the shelf a few pics down).

But the other well known version is represented bigly (I know it's not a word) in figures and model kits, etc...

There are those cute plush figures on the far right.

What's that you say? The other soft, stuffed animal looking figure with the tree? That is an Annalee Doll produced in very limited quantities some 20 years ago. It is a fine Hallowe'en gift from my aunt Kathy!

A little detail, a classic Annalee hand painted design.

I love best, though, the many artistic interpretations of Irving's tale. Since its first publication in The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (1820), the idea of the ghostly pursuit has captured the imaginations of artists the world over... each, for all their similarities, so different.

Ichabod Pursued By The Horseman F.O.C. Darley, 1849

The Headless Horseman
John Quidor, 1858 (just a year before Irving's death)

Nearly a century later in 1949, Mary Blair was designing the look of Disney's retelling of the tale.

The next two are both from the legendary Frank Frazetta:

... and this rather Frazetta-like concept belongs to Charles Keegan:

Trevor Watts etched this beauty of a logo a few years back.

This beautifully sketched Headless Horseman Revisited is from Walter Pax.

Lovely images, all. There are so many to see, and it seems any search engine, library or gallery can find you hundreds of unique artistic renditions of the 190-year-old ghost story.

One of these nights, we'll entertain with various audio renditions of the tale.

Until then, I must admit... I keep finding myself drawn to THIS:

"YeeaaaAHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Yeah.


Clippety-clop.