Not until trying to find a photo of this item did I realize that I've been mispronouncing its name for decades. I was talking to my brother about that early memory of the floating green skull and he brought up another incident. One that I get mocked for. I had an obsession with skeletons and skulls and had assembled a model of The VISIBLE Man (which I happily called THE INVISIBLE MAN up until two minutes ago). As the box boasts: "From skin to skeleton... assemble, remove, replace all organs!"
I assembled a lot of models in my early years, and I think my chief complaint was that the builder was expected to paint them. I realize that's a lazy point of view and probably means I should have spent my time doing something else. Or maybe I was just too young to get the paint job to look like the way the instructions or box cover expected me to paint it. I remember asking my mother to paint the blue and red veins on the outer clear plastic shell of my visible man. She used a brush that was WAY too wide and my visible man had veins the width of intestines up and down his arms and legs. And I remember I painted all of the organs the same color - pink.
Regardless of his horrible paint job, he was super cool and stood on a dresser at the foot of my bed. I think I popped him out of his plastic skin a thousand times and treated his innards like a tiny pink puzzle. I cringe at the memory of it, but I actually think I took it places. I have foggy memories of it on my lap in my dad's car. UGH. A chill-inducing "Can I take the invisible man, mom?"
This is the part that I'm mocked for (yeah, not the car bit): I had a really bad fever one night as a kid and it was the only time in my life I hallucinated. I saw a human-sized hand reaching around the bedroom door. See-through. A full-sized Visible man hand. Bones and veins and all. It was rigid and straight with fingers extended, and then it slowly moved back into the hallway.
In the morning, the fever broke and I'm sure I said something like "I saw the Invisible Man last night in the hall!"
And I bet my dad made a wise-crack asking how I saw an invisible man.
Buy one today!
Friday, July 10, 2009
The "Invisible" Man
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Floating Skull
When I was really young, I bought a plastic model kit of a human skull (I guess my mother must have bought it for me now that I think about it). Made by the Skillcraft Company, it was pretty detailed and complex, some of the teeth were in two pieces and required assembly. The end result was a neat anatomically correct human skull, and the coup de grâce - it was made from glow-in-the-dark plastic. Anything that glows green in the dark is an instant obsession to a boy. I spent way too much time studying it in the dark... seeing how bright I could get it to glow by leaving it on the top of a lamp for a really long time, or making dark hand prints on it by keeping my hand on it while bathing it in light.
One night after turning off the lights and going to bed, my brother and I heard a noise from the closet. It was one of those moments where you freeze and attempt to process what's happening. Then we heard the closet door slowly begin to open. Out floated a glowing green skull in a pitch black room. It was a combination of horrified screams and uncontrollable laughter as it floated towards us and dove at us. It made figure-8's in the air before it came back for another attack. You could hear my dad stifling his laughter at the end of the assault as the skull opened our bedroom door and floated out and away.
Image source.
For A Nice Quick Burial
...this solid pine coffin kit has an assembly time of 30 minutes with only a hammer and wood glue required for assembly.
An item being sold on Amazon.com (I just wish it was shaped like a toe-pincher coffin).
I love that it's in the Health & Personal Care section. And I LOVE this part at the bottom:
The Sandler All Wood Coffin Kit
Thanks, Wendy, for the great link.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Brotherhood Of Sleep
Monday, July 6, 2009
Rusty Nails
I always liked the idea of an elaborate Halloween feast. Many courses of peculiar foods and atypical flavors. Not talking about stuff you'd see on Martha Stewart where things are shaped like witch fingers or eyeballs, and certainly not like the banquet meal in TEMPLE OF DOOM. Just something that a fine chef would prepare if tasked with making something dark and different for All Hallows Eve. And I certainly wouldn't want to be the one whipping something like that up... I'd rather just get a mysterious invitation sealed with a drop of black wax.
I can help with the wine part. Pinotage. A while back, I bought a bottle based on a creative write-up at the end of an aisle in a Wine & Spirits shop. Really peculiar taste. Almost smoky. And darn good. Did a little research and found that it's had a bit of a time getting to the U. S. and has had its share of criticism - the best being that it's "hot and horrible" and that it tastes like "rusty nails."
It now has quite a following, even sporting Pinotage Clubs and Societies.
I'm thinking it should probably be served at elaborate Halloween Feasts everywhere.
Some information.
Here's the one I buy.
Image source.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Ironstock
The 10th annual Ironstock event was held recently. It was also the final one. Noah Fentz from TheCreepyHouseNextDoor.com built a scarecrow tribute to show his gratitude to the hosts, made from Ironstock t-shirts. VERY cool.
He also built this great facade:
More pics here.
Michael's Update
Checked out Michael's yesterday and they had a bunch of Halloween stuff on the shelves. Not the large foam pumpkins I was hoping for, but it sure was nice seeing so many Halloween items out so early. The manager said there'd be more stuff coming in two weeks. I was a fool and didn't bring my camera, but we did buy this small wooden sign.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Music By Jon Glassett
For as long as I've had a yard haunt, I've had music playing to enhance it. Back in the day, it was selected tracks from John Carpenter soundtracks and various horror scores. I remember one early year the main titles from BEETLEJUICE even made it to the final cut. Lately it's been dark ambient music. Subtle and unnerving, slowly building to add tension and a pending certain doom for any trick-or-treater close enough to hear it. Music makes the shadows darker and the pumpkins brighter. And the night a little colder.
A good friend of mine from a few states away has a really cool blog which I've featured a number of times here. He's a talented writer and I've always found his stuff to be witty and insightful and loaded with heart. He's also a musician and a composer. He featured some tracks of music recently and I was blown away. I don't write that lightly. It did what music's supposed to do - it connected with the listener [me]. I related to it and felt emotion from it...and wanted more. I posted a few comments complimenting his work and invited him to satiate his desire to write horror scores by composing something for my haunt video. To my delight, he accepted the offer and began working on a score to my 2008 video for THE HOLLOWMEN.
It's difficult to describe how I felt when he sent me the finished product. Listening to a musical score that was written specifically for my video was a tad overwhelming. I'm an opinionated stickler for music and spend an insane amount of time selecting tracks for my haunt videos. His music was simply perfect. He displays a skill for subtle tension and chilling accents, while avoiding any of the typical trappings you might expect from a horror score. I felt like it was Halloween again. Like I was looking at someone else's haunt. The video is now packed with atmosphere and style and creepiness.
I'm pretty honored and extremely grateful that he did this for me. He's a Master at his craft. I have darker shadows and brighter pumpkins to prove it.
Thanks, man.
Click to watch:
The Dark Walk
A wooden boardwalk through the woods on the side of a hill. I'd LOVE to base a haunt around a concept like this.
Image source.
The Dark Walk of Groombridge
Pumpkin Mug Shots
