Would You Love a Monsterman?

I love the makeup on this video by Lordi.

Would You Love A Monsterman? @ Yahoo! Video

A little dark, but hey, that's metal. It also took me back to the '80s and Iron Maiden:

Which of course reminded me of Ozzy Osbourne's werewolf video:

Which took me to the late, great Warren Zevon and "Werewolves of London."

Not a scary clip, but a fun tune. Scarier is how my mind works and connects all these things!

The Mutaytor-Spectacles of Sound and Vision

One of the commonalities I've noticed among haunters is that many of us want to listen to music while creating our props, and most of us lean towards ambient. I think it's because we prefer not to get dragged into the space where words distract us from what we're doing. For me, The Mutaytor is perfect for this.

While there are words sometimes, I enjoy the overall energy of the group. High energy tribal drums, fantastic horn section, thundering bass, all combine together to make an auditory experience you won't forget. I haven't made it to a show, but just looking at the video tells you that you're not going to be bored for a second. With belly dancing, fire dancing, acrobatics, and a driving, manic beat, how could you be bored? One of their drummers, funny enough, was in an Irish band I managed several years ago. He loves playing with The Mutaytor. (There are also former members of Oingo Boingo and Supertramp in their lineup.)

A friend of mine is a fan, and tells me they really got their start at Burning Man. (Another event I should go to, like Comic Con.)

I'd recommend heading to their site and picking up a CD.You're sure to love it.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters

I was looking for a South Park episode to share and ran across this instead.

I love the Three Stooges feel of this. It looks like a completely terrible movie, and I probably saw it as a child and just don't remember!

The Wood Carvings of David Frykman

Hand carved. Hand-painted. One-of-a-kind. David Frykman impresses me not only with his artwork, but also with the fact that there doesn't seem to be any actual blood on his ornaments, and he seems to have all his fingers, too. I wouldn't, so that's very impressive to me.
I think this Headless Horseman is the perfect gift for The Legend Sleepy Hollow fans.

And who can resist this bat? Charming, and perfect for Morticia Addams.

Halloween ornaments here. David Frykman's home page here.

Heartstoppers Haunted House

I've been searching for inspiration for props for this year, amongst all the other things I've got going on: finishing a sweater for Mr. ShellHawk (It's only been two years since I started it. I've just been busy...), waiting for the weather to break so I can plant the rose hedge that just got shipped to me from Jackson and Perkins (The 14 bushes couldn't possibly have shown up last month like they told me. After all, it wasn't raining then!), making pumpkins, housework, fertilizing the orchids, etc.

I've found it to be a little tough to find good video of haunts here in California to share with you. I did find this one, though, located not so far from me:

Heartstoppers Haunted House presents The Deadlands from Hex on Vimeo.
I ran across this haunt awhile back (before my last laptop crashed and fried the drive, losing all my bookmarks. Apparently backing up my files had nothing to do with actually, you know, backing them up...). It looks very professional and scary. Here's the story, in their words:

"Welcome to the historical site of the 1881 Disappearance of Cane Hex.

Hex was a former rebel with the southern cavalry during the Civil War, who became a bounty hunter with violent success, he had killed more men then Hell has souls. And on Halloween, exactly 126 years ago, Hex met his maker.

About 15 years after the Civil War, Cane found himself following several bounties out west to California. He was getting on in years, and his list of enemies was too long to read. While tracking a fugitive heading towards the hills of Auburn, he ended up in a small 'railroad town' called Roseville.

As he entered the small village, night was falling and a storm began to close in and a strange, uneasy feeling settled down around him. There was not a sound, even the falling rain and winds were silent. Several lightning strikes, but with no thunder claps. Suddenly an incredible pain shot down his back as he is struck from behind by what feels like a shotgun blast. He screams, it echos through the valley. He turns to face his attacker and sees several hulking forms of what look like men. But they are standing oddly, arms and legs at angles they normally don't go, heads on non-supporting necks, flailing around. Another lightning strike and Hex sees to his horror who his attackers are. He recognizes some of them right away, he saw these men hung at the gallows, years ago...

Then they all slowly come into view, out from the buildings, out of the alleys, scores of creatures all heading his way. How did this happen, who did this? All those lives he took, somehow escaped the deepest pits of damnation, to exact their revenge on Cane Hex again and again...

If you dare, join us this Halloween to unearth some answers about what became of the bounty hunter and his undead opponents."

I must say, I am looking forward to taking a crew out to Roseville to see the display this year. Oh, and get the brownies scared out of me!

Heartstoppers home page here. MySpace page here.

Fantastic Machine

I went to my CalHaunts NorCal meeting on Saturday and got to see some really cool stuff that'll be at the Trans World Convention. I'm going to see if I can get an interview with the gentleman who hosted our meeting before I give you any tidbits, but... I got this email today which reminded me of the folks of Cal Haunts, always tweaking props and servos to make the haunt experience the very best it can be. To quote my email:

"This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa . Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa , yes farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort. It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian."

Turn up your sound!

Welchs Competition Commercial

I wish commercials were this cool when I was a kid!

Welchs competition here. Vote!

Robot Chicken Star Wars

Alright. Some of you are Star Wars fans. Some of you are Robot Chicken fans. But how many of you are Robot Chicken Star Wars Fans?

NOT for kids under 18. Stop now. Just don't click on anything. Please. Dude, your mom will kill me. O.K.?

Whew! Thanks goodness they're gone! Go to You Tube to find this. And you can get it on NetFlix.
AND... George Lucas has blessed this HY-STER-I-CAL version! Wheee!

P.S. Way more on the DVD than on this clip.

Why?

It's funny. (Not funny, "ha ha." Funny weird.) In this day and age when money is your marker for success, and all other things seem to fall by the proverbial wayside, why on Earth would we create... Stuff?

Halloween stuff. Art stuff. Music, video, writing stuff. Stuff that "nobody" will ever see, no award given. The Academy. The Louvre. The Grammy Awards. The Nobel. The Pulitzer.

"Nobody," as in nobody "successful or important."

I mean, my dogs hardly count. My husband is smart enough to know he should say he likes my art (thankfully, he really does like it, so I consider myself lucky), but he "doesn't count." (Not in the prop appreciation department, anyway. Sorry sweetheart.)Your spouses and children and family (yes, the ones who turn on all the crazy bright lights on your carefully-lit Halloween display) "don't count." Not in a culture that worships money and beauty above all else.

So why do it?

Say it with me: L-O-V-E. Love.

When someone stood up at my friend Alan's memorial and mentioned that when you're a certain age, after you've been playing out a while, and you're not where you planned to be by now (age 35-40-45-50), that you have to decide why it is you still do it. Why? It's frustrating to be in the room with a bunch of drunks who are bellowing over your solo about the latest episode of Lost or whatever. The solo you and your buds practiced in a loop so the transition would be flawless when you played it live. You do it because you love it, because it would be like amputating a limb if you stopped doing it.

It's frustrating when what you write probably will never get to the top of that editor's pile of horrid dreck that you know damn well you are head and shoulders above.

It's frustrating when you go all out for Halloween and you only get a few TOTs, one of whom asks only why The Grumble has braces, instead of marvels at all the time you spent to make this prop for them. It's frustrating when they look at the handmade crepe paper pumpkin (full of yummy candy) you dropped in their freaking pillowcase ('cause they don't bother with actual candy buckets anymore, or spend more than ten seconds on their costumes) like you are a freak who just ripped them off. You bastard!

Ye Gods and little fishes! Why do we do it? Love. It is THE answer.

It's not like we're doing it for the money, unless we have a masochistic urge to continuously watch money flow out of our checking account.

Nope. It's because we love it.

Love is the reason we are in the garage in 100 degree heat, slaving away over an equally hot prop. Love is the reason we have hot glue scars all over our hands. It's why we drive two and a half hours to a make and take, once a month, even when gas prices are rising again. It's why we stay up until midnight on a "school night" at the beginning of October, then zombie walk through our work the next day. It's why some of us do it for our church or another charity, for free. Or why we tell our spouses never to schedule a vacation after August 15th. It's why we endure the incredulous looks when people realize we work all year for that one night: October 31.

And because of the nature of what we do, we don't have the option (and wouldn't want to, anyway)of going on strike for more pay and better medical, like some Hollywood types I could name.

Thanks to the magic of the 'net, we blog about it and find other deranged souls like ourselves. Brought together by monster mud, hot glue, and an unnatural affiliation for carpet adhesive, we share the love with each other all year, so when the condemning looks come and the neighbor accuses you of being a Satanist, you can smile and know that a mood boost is just a few steps and an Internet connection away.

We create memories for kids whose parents are too stressed and busy trying to survive to do this kind of crafting themselves. We create art, and harmless terror. Adrenaline surges and admiration. Visceral feelings, uncontrollable by our modern, logical minds.

Sounds just like love to me.

Dark Nights

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