An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 71

Highlighting an unusual art project.

I really don’t know what it’s about, why it’s there, or who did it.

I was driving home Friday, when I noticed a turtle climbing a tree off the side of the highway.

What? You ask? Well, there was this wooden painted cutout of a turtle climbing a tree. And, immediately following that, there was a big bird up high in another tree.

I thought that was a bit odd, hadn’t seen those before…

A bit further up the road (Highway 89 in Uintah, btw) I was greeted by the sight of a bunch of penguins standing in a field. And an alien (my wife thinks it might be a frog), a caterpillar, a polar bear, and more penguins.

These, best I can tell, don’t appear to be on private property, and appear to have been tossed around the side of the road at random.

Heading out to the store on Saturday, (going the other direction along said road), I was greeted by monkeys swinging from trees along this side of the road.

I would love to provide some pictures of the things, but it’s not the easiest thing to get a photo of whilst driving by along a busy highway. We’ll have to try when my wife’s in the car and she can roll the window down and snap shots.

I fully approve of the art project, and hope you all can get a glimpse. Don’t know how long they will be up, if more or coming, or really anything about it, so if you know something please feel free to drop us a hint.

In the meantime, a big thumbs up to whoever is responsible. Got a few smiles from me and my kids, and we’re all curious and looking for any additions, or anything we might have missed.

Crappy Movie Fridays 2/27

Well, as expected, AMC is back at it this week after the apparant Oscar weekend last week.

First up, Return to House on Haunted Hill.

Really, there is only one reason to watch this show. Victor Garcia, the special effects guru behind Hellboy is director. And, the film shows that it’s done by an effects artist, actually. The effects are superb. The rest…well, it’s Crappy Movie Friday for a reason.

Second in the lineup is Magic.

Yet another of the Twilight Zone episodes given the full length feature treatment. A testiment to just how great Twilight Zone really was…

Often overlooked, and while I don’t PERSONALLY get the whole scary dummy thing, I know KYLE does…Certainly going to record this to watch with Kyle. Show him where the idea for those goosebump dummy books he likes comes from.

Finally, in perhaps retribution for last week, AMC is treating us to a triple feature.

The Curse of the Living Corpse.

Film Debut of Roy Schneider…And not a whole heck of a lot more redeeming about the film…

The Laboratory

And, you have to pronounce it like Dexter. (LubOrutOry)

So, last year, we got to see a childhood dream of mine come into fruition.

Now, I was pretty pleased with the results, such as they were. But, I KNOW it can be better.

Heck, I essentially had 20 days to prepare that lab as it was. And, if you are here reading this now in February, you know, 20 days is practically NO TIME.

20 days, to create a general concept, several pages of sketches, building a cage, a frame, wiring lighting, a table, my own makeup appliances, and rigging sound.

It was a little stressful…more than I cared to admit at the time.

While I’m not certain we’ll be doing it again this year, I’m running on the assumption we are. I can put it to use at the house as a change up in the future if nothing else.

Looking back at what worked, what didn’t, and what needs improving.

Fred performed his task admirably. The hastily constructed table he was on, however, did not survive transport too awful well. Duct tape held legs in place that night.

This table was really the brains of the operation as well. Holding the effects for Fred, and the sound effects, such as they were.

Now, the sound effects did not work. (I ended up with something akin to an hour to try to get them to work to begin with, so no real surprise) Either the track was too low, or the ipod couldn’t power the speakers well enough, but you generally couldn’t hear it as well as I would like.

Now, as a distraction, this whole getup worked rather well with certain groups. VERY young kids (3-5) tended to NOT forget about me in the corner. They would give that black curtain the evil eye.

OLDER (12+) kids would also know something was up with that cage. They’ld watch Fred, but keep glancing back at the curtain.

Ironically, ADULTS, and the kids ~5-12 typically fell into the trap PERFECTLY.

HOW, then, do we get the rest to fall in line?

A 3 fold plan:

1: FIX THE SOUND EFFECTS. I want a LOUD electrical sound coming from the table. Time to play with it. Better file, better equipment, whatever is needed. We need that sound eminating from the table. This SHOULD get the attention of the younger kids.

2: Add some visuals. Blinking lights and things. Build a whole console with lights and things for that switch to be thrown. Again, this adds to the immersion, and should draw more attention to what’s going on.

3: MAKE FRED SIT UP AND SCREAM! Power goes off, like normal, but when that power comes back on, have Fred SIT UP AND SCREAM. THIS not only is a startle scare that will prime them for me coming out…BUT, it’s a SURE FIRE way to get EVERYONE’s attention over to Fred to allow me unnoticed escape.

Now, then, to the cage…

The Cage performed adequately. It rattled, it creaked, and it allowed me easy exit, all as planned.

It also broke unintentionally, and forced me to be less animated than I would like. Even though we found a happy medium in there, there was room for improvement.

Now, sure, with a full summer, I’m sure I could design a new and improved cage…

But, Young Frankenstein has been playing quite often on cable of late, and it’s given me this idea…REMOVE the cage….

CHAINS instead. Oooo, just thinking of the sounds of lunging at the kids while chained….

Lots to think on.

Crappy Movie Friday 2/20, and other news.

Perhaps this is the end of Crappy Movie Fridays on AMC…

For, there is NO “Fear Friday” this week.

More likely, it’s a respit due to the Oscars, as they are playing the oscar winning The Usual Suspects in that time slot.

Come now, AMC, you could have dredged up some Oscar winning films that fit Fear Friday…

If you are lucky enough to have Showtime, Premonition is airing.

Can’t comment much on it, as we’ve not seen it yet. (tagged as a ‘wait till tv’ movie)

But, one can ALWAYS count on UEN…

This week, they are treating us to The Last Woman on Earth.

Roger Corman is a personal favorite of mine.

Low budget films something of a specialty with him, he still manages to get the major points across, even if you can nit-pick at the details.

Heck, we could do an entire series of Crappy Movie Fridays on just Corman’s work.

In other news, one would have thought the search for witches might have been over.

I’ve recently stumbled on another legend that corresponds with many of the Spider Woman legends. Yet, a lot of info is being deleted from the net, and only the most general info has been readily available. Anyone with information on the Mambabarang, please leave me a message, or an email.