Category: Inspiration

Banner troubles, and a present.

So, we got the lovely banner all made and stained…but what insignia should I put on it?

There are my classics. “The Faces”. Pick one, and run with it. I made these faces years ago, and they’ve hung around ever since to where I see them more or less as something of a personal signature in reguards to all things halloween.

Couple skull designs I was kicking around. While superficially fitting, they all tended to scream ‘pirates’.

And, in my mind, I keep seeing a white handprint. Something akin to the Uruk-Hais. Yet, I do not feel this alone to be enough.

Several tribal inspired knot designs similarly do not feel ‘right’.

Well, it will come when the time is right.

And, in other news, I finally found me a Mola Ram!!!

See, Lego. Hasbro is not afraid of the burning heart. It works fine. Now, go make me a lego set that features the scene!

Never happen. Lego couldn’t even manage to get the proper heart-ripping into their video game.

This on a game that features hearts bouncing around on the floor anytime someone/something is killed anyway.

This was a fairly big deal in our house, actually. Alec got this game for his birthday. And, while I was busy remodeling, I got a couple excited children hollering for me to come see, they had finally made it to the heart-ripping scene. Such disappointment…

The thing is a SUPERB scene. I understand it nearly gave Temple of Doom an R rating, instead created the PG-13 rating, and had to be editted in europe to be shown.

Great headdress, wierd chanting, fire, creepy statues, necklaces made of human skulls, hearts being ripped out, catching on fire, drums seemingly made from heads, maniacal laughter…not sure I quite agree with the clown makeup on the lesser priests there. Even makes their ‘evil’ face while pushing the lever to drop the poor sap into the pit look odd. Still, one could watch this endlessly for inspiration…

Memory lane.

I was watching Jay Leno the other night.

Don’t remember the actor, but he was asking about his first acting experience which led to some grade school play and some funny pictures.

That got me thinking of the only school play I ever enjoyed…

A school play version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

I can’t remember exactly what GRADE it was. Or whether it was around Halloween or not. And, while I’m sure I was given some minor role to act out as well, what stands out in my memory was being placed in charge of the special effects along with 2 of my friends.

Now, the Headless Horseman has a special place in my heart anyway.

We had the classic decorations in the house when I was a child. The posable skeleton cardboard cutout for the front door. A witch and cat picture to hang up. A cardboard spider. You know, the classics. I’ve seen most of them at shops here or there since. But, we had one…always my favorite, and I have not seen it around since mom got rid of it. A picture of the Headless Horseman, pumpkin held high, against the light of a full moon. I LOVED that picture.

Couldn’t look at it for fear. But I loved it.

Then, there is the superb Disney film.

So, here we were making The Headless Horseman. With me and my friends in charge of the effects.

I recall making lots of sound effects. Mostly by hand or mouth. Babbling brooks, horse galloping, wind, etc. We even made a ‘flaming pumpking’ of a basketball with crate paper that mistakenly bounced off the wall ‘off stage’ it was supposed to disappear into and out into the audience…Some lighting effects here or there, even.

The play wraps up with the narrator telling that on some nights you can still hear Ichabod, and the three of us effects folk let a cry in unison into that microphone so eerie the memory of it still makes my hair stand up.

So, here’s to the Headless Horseman. Quite possibly a main reason I turned out so wierd…

The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight
By Jack Prelutsky

The Headless Horseman rides tonight
Through stark and starless skies,
Shattering the silence with
His otherworldly cries.
He races through the darkness
On his alabaster steed,
The Headless Horseman rides tonight,
Wherever the fates would lead.

And he rides upon the wind tonight,
He rides upon the wind,
Galloping, galloping, galloping on
Out of the great oblivion,
Galloping till the night is gone.
He rides upon the wind, tonight,
He rides upon the wind.

The Headless Horseman rides tonight
Beggared in robes of black,
To bear a being from the earth,
Never to bring him back.
He’s evil, foul, and bottoming,
With laughter on his breath.
The Headless Horseman rides tonight,
The minister of death.

And he rides upon the wind tonight,
He rides upon the wind,
Galloping, galloping, galloping on
Out of the great oblivion,
Galloping till the night is gone.
He rides upon the wind, tonight,
He rides upon the wind.

The Headless Horseman rides tonight,
He rides the wind alone.
Beneath his arm he tightly tucks
His head of gleaming bone.
His voice is harsh and hollow,
It is horrible to hear.
The Headless Horseman rides tonight
To fill the earth with fear!

And he rides upon the wind tonight,
He rides upon the wind,
Galloping, galloping, galloping on
Out of the great oblivion,
Galloping till the night is gone.
He rides upon the wind, tonight,
He rides upon the wind.

The Headless Horseman rides tonight
Upon his fateful trip,
With silvery stiles of steely death
Held fast in boney grip.
He sweeps it swiftly forth and back
As over the earth he glides,
And none in the world is safe tonight,
For the Headless Horseman rides.

And he rides upon the wind tonight,
He rides upon the wind,
Galloping, galloping, galloping on
Out of the great oblivion,
Galloping till the night is gone.
He rides upon the wind, tonight,
He rides upon the wind.

Where have you been?

Go away a few days, and folks start asking “what happened to ya?”

Well, see, all this Halloween all the time stuff comes at a cost. And, to keep the boss happy, seems I have to make a little offering of remodeling the entire upstairs.

But, you can see more about that over at the boss’s place.

One thing I do enjoy about construction work is the quite time to think. (cause swinging hammers is quiet time and all, right?) And, in between some coats of paint this evening, I actually had a whole hour to sit down and wait.

With summer TV suckage, I popped in The Lion King.

Man, is this thing a great film. Halloween inspiration all over the place.

Great ideas for use of fog, lighting, and assorted other possible projects.

Why, those dancing skeletal shadows should be possible with a proper scrim, even…

And, responding to a request, I’ve managed to slow down the slideshows on the side there. Too slow? Still too fast? Let me know.

Little break…and something to think on.

Time has come for something of a break.

We’re very much on target for accomplishing everything for Halloween 2008. Fred’s done. Skulls are being made. Could use some more shrunken heads. But, I’m at that point where it’s time to make another big purchase of raw materials, and await it’s delivery.

We’re also at a point where it’s time to start remodeling the house as well. Jen wants to paint the place and put in wood floors. So, with me being in a little hiatus of not having the raw materials to work on Halloween, now is the perfect time to finish off the housework so that we can get back to the important stuff.

That said, we’ll have a test of Fred’s impalement at some point soonish. And maybe some lighting along with that. And, with only small projects left on the to-do list, it’s also time to think on maybe one more surprise for those brave enough to enter this year.

It’s not often I get inspired by others. Oh, I certainly enjoy seeing other people’s works. But, rare is the occasion it ticks something in my brain making me want to make it a part of my own experience. It was a simple reply to a post of mine about Fred. How they impaled their own Bucky.

Yet, there, a driveway…torches…someone else who torches up? I had to check out the photo album. Greeted with some pretty interesting sights all around, it was an interesting look.

But, there was that one special photo. That is interesting. It would be cheap. And, I already have most of the items needed to create something of that nature. Just maybe…that one more surprise might just have to be an unorthodox version…

In search of Titans.

A while back, I had been reminded of a favorite movie from my childhood. There was a discussion about how to make a halloween scene out of some statues and I immediately recalled Clash of the Titans, and the wonderfull Medusa scene. It’s been kicking around my brain since then, and while it was completely unrealistic for me to attempt to make such at thing, it restirred a desire to see this film again, for I hadn’t seen it since I was about 12 or so. I have one bizaar memory of the movie.

I recall having the toy of Calibos, and of Perseus. Must have been around the time it came out. And, I slept over at my Grandma’s (a rarity). Her not having a shower, I had to take a bath (even bigger rarity, always showered). And, I was allowed to play with these Clash of the Titans toys in the tub. (Only time I ever recall having toys in the tub) I immediately set out to recreate the fight in the swamp.

So, there was a strong sentimental urge for me to find this movie.

An internet search let me know it was on DVD. What’s more, it’s even being remade. The internet also informed me that the local Best Buy and Circuit City did not have any copies. So, I began calling around.

And I was greated with a number of young kids who have never heard of the thing.

“Yes, hi, I’m calling to ask if you have a copy of Clash of the Titans.”

“Let me check” on hold…

“You mean the football movie, right? We have that both used and new”

“No, that would be ‘REMEMBER the Titans’, I’m looking for ‘CLASH of the Titans’, should be under action.”

“Never heard of it. I’ll check”

I did eventually find a used copy at F.Y.E. for $5 and immediately set out to get it. And then subjected the boys to an immediate watching of the thing.

And, for the second time in recent months, I had to sit and wonder what to do. Here was yet another early 80’s movie, rated PG that shows quite a bit more nudity than I expect from the rating. In front of my 9 year old. Ah well, at least this time it was just some breast feeding, and not a pod person thing bouncing naked as she chased the last remaining human, nothing he’s not going to see in the documentaries I tend to watch anyway.

What surprised me is back when originally formulating the whole idea of the yard, I must have somewhere deep down been chanelling a part of this movie. Calibos’s lair just happens to be surrounded by skulls up on poles and torches.

Cool….

My heavens, the people even got the el cheapo black fake fir with a lazy hole cut in the middle like I did the first year!

The ORIGINAL idea for the yard was to feature a growing collection of differing skulls, just like this…

Clearly, I have been reunited with a subconscious influence