An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 88

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.

Fears of Childhood…

Interesting day yesterday.

I get a call warning me Talia is cranky and hasn’t been sleeping. And, the babysitter has just put her back down when I get home. Sure enough, a few moments later, Talia starts crying.

I go in there, and tuck her back in, she’s obviously tired. Few moments later, crying again. This time I get in there in time to see what’s wrong…

Someone has placed her glow-worm in bed with her, and it’s playing. I pick it up, and she gives me this look. I press the button, it lights up and starts a little music, and Talia absolutely comes unglued screaming and pushing it away.

I can’t really blame her, the thing is pretty terrifying.

Creepy eyes, glowing face, horrific music emminating from it…

I’m with Talia on this one. And so, I confiscated it, and she slept beautifully.

Got me thinking of my other kid’s fears, and my own…

Kyle…is afraid of sharks.

COMPLETELY my fault. Kyle’s 3. In Florida MGM, Jen went over to the coaster side, I took Kyle to the movie ride side. We go in Twister, he laughs at the ‘wind monster’ that forms, fireballs and electical arcs flying everywhere. We go on King Kong, he laughs at the “monkey monster” as it grabs cars shaking and yelling. He laughs at everything we are there.

Jaws the ride….HOW WAS I TO KNOW? Never been myself. Now, thinking he would be able to see better, I set him right on the outside rail…Jaws is circling the boat, the driver’s shooting and yelling, the music’s playing, that boat tips and out comes Jaws RIGHT AT KYLE spraying water all over us in the process. He does not cry, he just sits there with this look. We get off, and for the first time, he does NOT want to go back on a ride.

That night, turn on the water to give him a bath, and off runs a naked 3 year old SCREAMING for fear of a shark coming out of the tap. To this day, he still looks nervous around a mere statue of a shark.

Never really understood the fear of sharks. I’m more afraid of the waves in the ocean myself.

Alec…is afraid of heights.

And toilets with blue water.

Don’t know where either come from. But, he is terrified that he will “break his neck” if he falls. He’s fine if he’s on his feet, but pick him up, put him up on something, remove those feet from the ground, and he’s petrified.

The blue water thing is more confusing. Having to do with potty training, I can’t remember WHO’S house had one of those drop ins that make the water blue, but he wanted nothing to do with it, and it’s been a challenge to get him to go potty anywhere but at home, or where there is a urinal.

That blue water is evil, after all. I think we may have cured him after me showing him the soap we use to clean the toilet is also blue. So, he’s been afraid of soap. He was able to laugh about that, but we have yet to encounter blue water at someone’s house since…

Myself?

My older Brother was teasing me the other day about how he had to put away his coyote skull because I was so afraid of it when we were young.

Hey, as skulls go, canine skulls are pretty darn evil. I remember asking about it, and asking what a coyote was. I was told it was like a dog. And, we used to raise little puppies as well. Occasionally those puppies would die. So, in my mind, here we had this dead puppy sitting on a shelf.

Now, those puppies once tore up my favorite pillow, which was my comfort item. And, so, I was always afraid these dead puppies that clearly we were keeping around with this skull would come back and rip me apart. Horrible dreams of zombie puppies running around that basement. I could even hear their heartbeats as I laid in bed listening to what was clearly a hearbeat coming from beneath me. Only thing beneath me was the basement, and nothing was down there, so it MUST be those zombie puppies!!! Cause zombie puppies have hearts, you know. (or maybe it was my own hartbeat from my arm under the pillow, either way…)

My Brother commented how it irks him to see me swarming with skulls all over my yard now….

Yeah, but they sure aint coyote skulls, are they?!

Happy Birthday to Fred…

Hope you all had a great 4th weekend.

We drug Fred around with us the afternoon of the 4th. My dad is helping design a means of mounting Fred up how we want, and needed some measurements, so I was just going to leave him over there for dad to fiddle with.

We get to my uncle’s place (right across the street from my parents) where the family BBQ is going on and unload Fred. Of course, my Uncle Rex wants to freak some folks out, so he goes to get some wire to tie Fred to the front of his trailer. I’m standing there holding him, and 2 kids are riding their bikes. The older races past, STARING at Fred and leaving his younger brother. Who sneaks by later…crying and refusing to even glance our way. And, while it was funny at the time, that I’ve already claimed my first victim of Halloween ’08….it also has me a little worried.

I really don’t want to be bringing kids to tears of fright. Jen says, he didn’t see Fred in context, and kids would be expecting scary things on Halloween. On the other hand, the kid didn’t see Fred in context. It was just me holding Fred in full daylight. Not Fred impaled on a 10′ pole in the dark, lit by firelight with the drums going and surrounded by skulls up on poles, and a little headhunter coming out of a hut with a spear (and glow bracelets).

Of course, then there’s my little cousin who reacts by holding Fred’s hand and singing him happy birthday. So, Fred’s birthday is now officially July 4th.

Friday night, with neighbors lighting the traditional little sparklers and stuff, and me sitting on some homebrew green fire fuel that is slowly evaporating, we did our own little demonstration, and poured it all into a little soda can, lit it, then dumped it into the street to make a big puddle of green flame. This inspired the neighbors to exclaim “whoa, there’s a green fire over there!”

As much as I’ld like to get that on Halloween, as posted earlier, it’s looking less likely.

Finally, I finished off Crystal Skull design #2.

I like the carved look. All the little facets, and how they catch the light…

More green fire news.

I’ve managed to track down several suppliers of the green fire. However, listed burn times would indicate a full canister of the oil would only burn for 3 hours, assuming my math is adding up right.

I think I’ll order a small sample to run a test myself. I do think I’ve managed to track down a source of wicks that will make it so my homemade brew will work, though. And, there’s always a plan B as well, with some granual additives that will work for the firepit and may or may not work for the torches.

We’ll keep you posted on any progress.

Some of you may have heard me lamenting on the lack of cheap torches out there this year. I need more, and I need to start replacing some of the old stock. And, thanks in part to a recall of some tiki torches that might have excess fuel *gasp* catch fire if it spilled onto the guard (fuel does tend to catch fire and all)forcing a redesign of the new torches. I’m patiently waiting for clearance sales, and will slowly convert my torches to the new canisters, just because that new clear bottle is rather nice.

However, I’ve come across what seems to be a trend that could threaten my ability to obtain even basic torch fuel this year. And, so, I’ve decided I may as well make a little public service announcement.

DONT DRINK THE TIKI TORCH OIL!

Seems there’s been a rash of folk mistaking the new Tiki brand oil bottles for apple juice. And, we’re talking ADULTS. Not kids here.

The bottles are “similar” and “you’ld have to look pretty hard” to tell the difference according to several stories.

So, I have taken it upon myself to make this handy little guide to tell whether your bottle is a Tiki Torch Oil, or Apple Juice.

1: Tiki Torch Oil comes with a child proof cap.

Apple Juice does not.

2: Tiki Torch Oil has a big TIKI brand logo that features FLAMES to dot the “I”.

Apple Juice typically has tree or apple based logo.

3: Tiki Torch Oil has a big PICTURE OF A BURNING TORCH on it.

Apple Juice has a PICTURE OF APPLES.

4: The Back of a Tiki Torch Bottle has a “DANGER: May be harmful or fatal if swallowed” warning.

The Back of an Apple Juice bottle has nutritional values on it.

5: Tiki Torch Oil smells like Citronella

Apple Juice smells like…apple juice.

And finally, while I can’t exactly say what Tiki Torch Oil might TASTE like, but if that apple juice tastes a little funny, just spit it out to be safe, eh?

I really don’t need a recall of all oil taking it off the shelves…

How do I get started?

Every now and then I get asked this question. So, with a friend asking once again, I figured I may as well post it here as well.

The first rule in starting a haunt of any kind is to have fun. If you’re not going to enjoy it, or if it becomes more work than play, it’s just plain not worth it. At the end of the day, this is art. And, artists that don’t enjoy what they are doing…well…their stuff tends to suck.

Now then, you need to decide what you want. If you’re in it for money, you need to focus on numbers. You want LOTS of people to be able to go through as smoothly as possible (notice I do not say quickly). If you just want to scare up some trick or treaters, you must realize the older kids will try to rush through to get the candy and be off to get more. Ask around if you’re new to the area how many kids to expect. Then plan on double that. Kids with cell phones these days will call each other if they see a cool house, especially one giving out nicer candy.

Next would come deciding on an age group that you want to target. Are you gearing for teenagers, or tots?

With that age group in mind, it’s time to think about a theme. And, I use the term ‘theme’ very loosely. I’m not even sure if there is a ‘theme’ that fits my yard, for instance, but you want everything to make sense when seen together. A bunch of clowns right next to the vampires just doesn’t blend well. And, if you are going to do multiple areas, think of how they go together as well. Don’t just move someone from a butcher’s shop into a padded room without some kind of transition that makes that journey make sense.

But, above all else, there are 2 key features.

Lighting and Sound.

Lighting that suits the mood, accents what you want seen, and fits into the theme of the scene is quite possibly the most important aspect to a scene.

Sound adds in that overarching mood, and sets the tone in the person’s mind. Notice that I do NOT say ‘music’. Some scenes are better off without music, but even those, SOUND is important.

And to answer the inevitable follow-up question from those brand new to the idea of making a little spook alley to scare some kids (or those of you with kids wanting to try to do this), what is a simple theme to do?

The tried and true, ancient, guaranteed to scare folks and be fun….dress up as a dummy, and hold very still until they think you ARE just a stuffed dummy. Then move. Doesn’t need to be a big move, either. Effective either sitting or in scarecrow variety. Best when matched with some actual dummies.

Dummy can be anything, so long as the face is not seen. At least not clearly.

Last time I did that I had a poor kid’s father shining a flashlight into my mask for what seemed 10 minutes as I sat there trying not to breath, holding that little candy bowl that said ‘please take one’. Finally the father stood declaring “no, it’s just a dummy” and they started to walk away. I followed them to the end of the driveway before the father jumped out of his skin and the kid ran screaming into the night.