The 1,000th Happy Haunt?

Gone since '69...

Back for '09...

...The Hatbox Ghost.

I always wondered how many Happy Haunts resided in the Haunted Mansion. If there are in fact 999, then this 'initially-in-but-immediately-removed' figure, the so-called 'Hatbox Ghost', was the 1,000th? Or have there merely been 998 since they removed him, and they've been lying to us since 1969? -**

At any rate here he is alongside a should-work-fine-hopefully Uncle Forry. MAN do I need to find those glasses frames.

Smiles, everyone! SMILES!

Of course, one of those 990-something spooks rests uneasily in a coffin, and has been trying to escape for 40 years. Here, through the magic of wire, foil, paper mache and Model Magic, are his hands (well, my vision of them). I will have him trying to escape something, likely a coffin but it's a cool tribute no matter where I put them. (They still need the sleeves/shirt cuffs, which are on their way):

Lemmeouttahere! C'mon! Lemmeouttahere!

I like how they double as the hands that shadow across the old clock in the hallway.
Sort of.
I think they look better as shadows. Like most people I know.
And I know there's only one hand that moves across the clock face. Don't test me...

Paint-glue-foil-paper-tape-fur-lights-latex-batteries-wires. Is. (Are). My. Life.


** - which would be shocking because Disney never never ever lies.


Dumdumshrekpooped-

The Blog bone's connected to the... YouTube bone.

Out-of-synch audio courtesy of YouTube.



Hear the word of the Lord -

Fall.

Smart Shopper?

Oh boy... lots to get to!

I have been working on Hallowe'en... sculpting, painting, etc. Sadly, my Uncle Forry animatron is needing higher torque (read $$$) servos, otherwise I'll need to scrap him for this year (time's far too short now for the complete rebuild which is probably the only solution). REALLY bothers me. I thought I'd figured up the weights and angles correctly.

*sigh...*

BUT, on a lighter note, I have made more Haunted Mansion-ey things, and they'll get their own posts soon.

This post concerns a long day of running errands which turned into a

Hallowe'en Display Comparison Shopping Day!

It began at

Walgreens:

Not a DUMDUMSHREKPOP in sight, but I kind of expected that; such magic is a fleeting thing.

Ah, PEZ... tradition and simplicity.

The guy was putting things out and laughing at me taking pictures for my blog. Good-natured laughter, but still... you're Walgreens! Where's your uppity coming from? Attain the size of CVS (let alone K-Mart) and then you can be uppity.

Family: do these remind you of our nightlight?

Looks like Klaus Kinski (yet, ironically, nothing like Nosferatu).

This is one of the strangest, coolest, most "I'd never never ever ever eat this ever in my life ever!" Hallowe'en candy ideas I've ever seen. Still, it looks so inviting...

*Hellooo Helllooo Helllooooo Helllloooooo...*
or
*Isn't it cozy? Isn't it cozy? Isn't it cozy heeeerrrre?*
or
*Bats in the Belfry -hiccup!- *

This is a very cool upside down bat-thing.

I think Walgreens is trying hard, and they're doing very well (laughter/uppity-ness notwithstanding).

On the other hand...

WalMart:

Other than the candy aisle, this one aisle is it. Nothing but make-up, kids costumes and baking accessories.

Yes, I know they're not done putting things out, but the unopened stock all read 'make-up'. So this year, at this WalMart anyway, the whole prop/decoration thing is dead.

And they've got this slogan:

What? I don't get it. Sure, this year Hallowe'en's on a Saturday. But the idea is vague. Is this a command (On Saturday night, please come alive)? Is it the name of some concept event, 'WalMart's big Saturday Night Come-Alive!'? Was I dead before? Without punctuation or em-pha-sis, I'm lost. Either way, why wouldn't they have written 'Hallowe'en Night' or even 'October 31st' instead of the nebulous 'Saturday Night'? Very lame.

Between the discovery of Uncle Forry's servo problems and this WalMart trip, I was feeling a little despondent... so it's a good thing I had business on the other end of town.

K-Mart:

Are those Skulls and Pumpkins I see? Much better...

The second and third Dead films on DVD for $5 each? Yeah, K-Mart's ready for Hallowe'en. Feel much shame, WalMart.

And not far from K-Mart, is our fairly-new friend...

Target:

From this end cap to the women in the background, ALL Hallowe'en aisles. THAT'S the ticket! (Okay, that one side is cleaning supplies but they were in the middle of moving those to another aisle to make room for more Hallowe'en goodies... so this is the store not done yet!)

Finally picked up the new Mad Monster Party DVD for $9.99. WalMart, K-Mart, Walgreens, even Best Buy all failed miserably on this DVD. So thank you Target.

Can they do that? Where's the Disney lawsuit?

Beautiful tombstones; love the Celtic cross... though the one that reads 'Spells' is a little baffling. What does it mean? Spells died? The death of spells? Here lie spells? Weird.

(I had some video of the K-Mart and Target displays, just to give an idea of scale, but Blogger is acting up and isn't processing videos very well today).

You know, I don't buy an awful lot of Hallowe'en stuff each year. I have amassed so much over these long years, that I only buy little things, or big things only if they scream 'take me home!'... it doesn't happen often.

But I love walking among all the crazy, fun, sometimes stupid but always wonderful Hallowe'en aisles. It's tradition, it's required, and it's always a nice reminder of what's important, and more significantly what isn't important, about the greatest night of the year.


Decisions and prop posts soon-


DumdumshrekPROPS!

Don't know how I missed this.

I read about this quite some time ago, and intended to give it a mention when the release date got closer, but I plumb forgot! Too much time behind my own bar, I suppose...

At any rate, as of September 8th there is a new 'Special Edition' release of Mad Monster Party on DVD, this time with Making Of -, Music Of - and Animagic Of - featurettes.

Amazon has it for $9.99, but your nearest Target, Wal- or K-Mart should be carrying them for a similar price (if not in the DVD section, then on a Hallowe'en end-cap somewhere nearby!).

I haven't picked up mine yet (again, I just sorta forgot this was coming!)... must remedy that tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to the music featurette with composer/arranger Maury Laws... love that score!!!


This is indeed our time to shine-

Old School. Oh yes.

Once again, it's movie time at the Skull & Pumpkin.

Well, not a movie, really.

A filmstrip.

An online friend reminded me this evening of the cheap coolness of filmstrips, and during a search for a specific strip for this friend, I stumbled quite serendipitously upon two incredible pieces of old school (literally) All Hallow's wonderosity... the aptly named and full-of-oddness Happy Hallowe'en (1956) and Hallowe'en (1948).

I do not know the name of the person who shot these or put them online for me to find (for that is surely why he did it) but I thank him... and you will all thank me for removing his very poorly read and needless narration (the story's in words on the strip!), and adding in its place some very 50's-era spooky incidental tracks from my huge library of such music.

I love the non-descript 'old tyme' costumes and settings in the first strip. No doubt the 'olden days' are in some European country, but where and when, exactly?

The second strip has some amazing things. The pregnant top-hatted costumer is stunning, as is the flour-faced coin-chewer (you'll see)... has anyone reading this ever done the flour-coin thing? And what's with the completely false historical claims (American Indians had special ritual dances for this night of the year)?!?

At any rate, I wish I could've been able to provide the 'boooop!' sound which always accompanied the magic of filmstrips in school. That 'booooop!' is like a bell to go out for a mental recess to 3rd grade.

But take heart that, where we once watched filmstrips in a darkened classroom without drinks, snacks or laughs, we can now forego such strictures and enjoy these things the way they were meant to be enjoyed; popcorn, drinks, snacks, and the nostalgic laughter of good friends.

Alright, sheet screen hanging in front of the fireplace... lights dimmed... record player's cued up... everyone able to see?

And...

*BOOOOOOOP!*

DUMDUMSHREKBOOOOOP!

LPs and DLs.

Welcome back to the pub.

Happy Sunday. I hope everyone had a nice Saturday night... we had a great one here at the ol' S&P.

So I was talking with a friend on the UMA (would you sign up already?) about Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow animated feature and album, and as a gesture of friendly coolness I thought I'd upload my copy of the LP to Megaupload for him to grab.


I then thought "What the heck? I should be posting the link at the Skull & Pumpkin for EVERYONE to enjoy, should they so desire!". So...

HERE.

This was a well-worn LP when we were kids; we still murmur 'the rich-est farm-er in the count-y' at appropriate (and even inappropriate) moments.


So... some Sunday listening from the pub.

Hurry up and get it though; I imagine Disney's crawlers are going to find it soon and Megaupload will have to kill the file.

It's only a painless 17.2 mb file anyway, shouldn't take you more than a minute or so.

Hallowe'en stuff to come soon.

Clippety-clop!-