The art of Michael Slack.
slackart.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Catacombs
A really fun idea.
I'd love to make a walk-through one of these days. I'd definitely do a catacomb passageway of some kind.
my-mania.com
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Now Playing: Swimming With Sharks
Not really Halloween music... more like October music.
The film score to SWIMMING WITH SHARKS by Tom Hiel.
Click here to listen to the end title track.
Click here for samples.
Mache And Mice
When we first started making props, my brother and I would use strips of newspaper dipped into a mache mixture of just flour and water. We'd store those props in my parents' attic and a lot of the early ones are still up there. The tombstones I have used in past haunts were also coated in the flour mache. As well as the Pumpkin King on the porch and the earliest prop we ever made - the weird little ghost prop from Tales from the Darkside's "Trick Or Treat" pilot.
Two weeks ago, my father called and wanted me to come down and check the roof from inside the attic because he suspected a leak. All those old props had been skinned alive - by mice. They ate the flour right off of the newspaper. The tombstones were in pieces and the props looked like they died from extreme psoriasis. Thankfully they don't eat Elmers glue.
My dad asked me to pick up rat/mouse poison next time I'm shopping for supplies at a Home Depot or Lowes. I lied and said I would.
There's just no way.
Halloween Floors
I would have killed for something like this growing up. My parents put ugly two-toned blue carpeting in our room.
Boys = blue. Thanks, mom.
Flor.com
Always Check Your Candy
After literally years of waiting, I watched Trick 'r Treat last night. Since the blu-ray I purchased hadn't arrived yet, I hit up the local blockbuster and was happy to see that every dvd was already rented out (word-of-mouth is a wonderful thing). Only one blu-ray remained. Pretty impressive since it was only 4 PM. I snatched up the disc and hurried home.
It was strange to finally have something in my hands that we've all been talking about for so long. God knows how many times I've watched the trailer or have studied the promotional art and stills. I'm very VERY happy to report that it was worth the wait. It's easy to say that Trick 'r Treat is the most visually pleasing Halloween film I've ever seen. Enchanting images that made me wish I lived in that town. It was Halloween overload. Every frame included something I wanted to study, and I look forward to repeated viewings to take it all in - jack o'lanterns, cornfields, scarecrows, Halloween parades, costumes, decorations, and elaborate yard haunts.
Michael Dougherty is a fantastic director and his love for Halloween is everywhere in his film. He's also the film's writer and his anthology's stories flow seamlessly. He's made a film that will be added to the Halloween season's list of required viewing.
Leaves fall like snow in Trick 'r Treat. And it's magic.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Cafe De l'Enfer
A hot spot called Hell's Café lured 19th-century Parisians to the city's Montmartre neighborhood—like the Marais—on the Right Bank of the Seine. With plaster lost souls writhing on its walls and a bug-eyed devil's head for a front door, le Café de l'Enfer may have been one of the world's first theme restaurants. According to one 1899 visitor, the café's doorman—in a Satan suit—welcomed diners with the greeting, "Enter and be damned!" Hell's waiters also dressed as devils. An order for three black coffees spiked with cognac was shrieked back to the kitchen as: "Three seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier!"
Monday, October 5, 2009
Woodchuck
Woodchuck Draft Cider, Vermont’s premier hand-crafted hard cider, launches Woodchuck Fall Cider – the 2009 Fall Season Limited Release. The unique taste and aroma of Woodchuck, not found in any other hard cider, results from century old hand-crafting techniques… The 2009 Woodchuck Fall Cider begins with apples that are pressed to juice, fermented and then cold-filtered. Then master cider maker and creator of the original 1991 Woodchuck recipe, Greg Failing, performs his personal touch with an attractive bouquet of autumn spices starring cinnamon and nutmeg. Creation of this season’s limited release is completed while Failing balances out the taste with a hint of American white oak.
Thanks, Necrobones, for the heads-up. I can't wait to try this.
woodchuck.com
One...More....Day
If all goes as planned, we'll be watching Trick 'r Treat tomorrow evening.
Can't wait.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Crash Site
(13) Also from a distance, I was able to see a couple of bodies under a canvas tarpaulin. Only the heads extended beyond the covering, and I was not able to make out any features. The heads did appear larger than normal and the contour of the canvas suggested the size of a 10 year old child. At a later date in Blanchard's office, he would extend his arm about 4 feet above the floor to indicate the height.
(14) I was informed of a temporary morgue set up to accommodate the recovered bodies.
(15) I was informed that the wreckage was not "hot" (radioactive).
Friday, October 2, 2009
Now Playing: The Village
Huge fan of James Newton Howard and I always find myself playing his scores for SIGNS and THE VILLAGE around this time of year.
Samples here.
Honorable
Well, the results are in and Tin Man came in fifth place. My lowest yet. Ironic since I actually thought he was a little more mainstream than previous years which placed higher. The viewing public voted and have spoken - and I have the light blue Honorable Mention ribbon to prove it.
He made two children actually cry. That's a pretty cool prize.
See the winners:
First Place.
Second Place.
Third Place.
Fourth Place (Honorable Mention).
Fifth Place (Honorable Mention).
Thursday, October 1, 2009
8 Eyes
Like most arachnids including scorpions, spiders have a narrow gut that can only cope with liquid food and spiders have two sets of filters to keep solids out. They use one of two different systems of external digestion. Some pump digestive enzymes from the midgut into the prey and then suck the liquified tissues of the prey into the gut, eventually leaving behind the empty husk of the prey. Others grind the prey to pulp using the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps, while flooding it with enzymes; in these species the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps form a preoral cavity that holds the food they are processing.
The stomach in the cephalothorax acts as a pump that sends the food deeper into the digestive system. The mid gut bears many digestive ceca, compartments with no other exit, that extract nutrients from the food; most are in the abdomen, which is dominated by the digestive system, but a few are found in the cephalothorax.
Truly the finest prop spider I have ever seen.
Image source.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
