Author: Head Candy Corn

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ALL the Nocturnes!!!

Presenting, an unprecedented musical treat, the COMPLETE collection of Chopin’s Nocturnes played by Brigitte Engerer. It’s not Fall, but it’s just about fall, and if you want to feel dreamy, wistful, and like some frost might actually appear on a pumpkin at some point, listen to this. Wait until eventide, pour yourself a cup of Earl Grey, and nestle into a chair with a charming foot stool. Put a blanket over your lap and listen to the night, listen to the quiet sounds and the truly exquisite sounds of Ms. Engerer’s piano. These Nocturnes were written by Chopin between 1827 and 1846, here are the time codes so that you may know what you’re hearing.

1. 0:06 Op. 9, No. 1 in B flat minor. Larghetto
2. 5:53 Op. 9, No. 2 in E flat major. Andante
3. 10:29 Op. 9, No. 3 in B major. Allegretto
4. 17:09 Op. 15, No. 1 in F major. Andante cantabile
5. 22:07 Op. 15, No. 2 in F sharp major. Larghetto
6. 25:43 Op. 15, No. 3 in G minor. Lento
7. 30:53 Op. 27, No. 1 in C sharp minor. Larghetto
8. 36:32 Op. 27, No. 2 in D flat major. Lento sostenuto
9. 42:27 Op. 32, No. 1 in B major. Andante sostenuto
10. 47:27 Op. 32, No. 2 in A flat major. Lento
11. 53:01 Op. 37, No. 1 in G minor. Lento
12. 59:51 Op. 37, No. 2 in G major. Andante
13. 1:06:17 Op. 48, No. 1 in C minor. Lento
14. 1:12:25 Op. 48, No. 2 in F sharp minor. Andantino
15. 1:20:11 Op. 55, No. 1 in F minor. Andante
16. 1:25:36 Op. 55, No. 2 in E flat major. Lento sostenuto
17. 1:31:19 Op. 62, No. 1 in B major. Andante
18. 1:38:51 Op. 62, No. 2 in E major. Lento
19. 1:45:11 Op. 72, No. 1 in E minor. Andante
20. 1:49:19 Op. posth in C sharp minor. Lento con gran espressione
21. 1:53:18 Op. posth in C minor. Andante sostenuto

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Time for some Liberace!

From the wonderful whirlpool rabbit hole of YouTube is a seasonal treasure featuring everyone’s favorite piano showman and some dancing skeletons!  This is Liberace’s own interpretation of  the Danse Macabre (first performed in 1875). It is the name of opus 40 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The composition is based on a poem by Henri Cazalis, Danse Macabre, here’s just a little of a translation of this poem by Peter Low:

Zigger-zigger-zig tapping on a coffin
Death has got a beat and a toothy grin.
At the stroke of twelve plays a crazy polka
zigger-zigger-zag on his violin.

The night is dark, the winter winds blow
the tree branches creak in the stormy clouds
and off the whitened skeletons go
they skip and they leap in their flowing shrouds.

Zigger-zigger-zig how they frisk and toss
dancing to the beat rattling every bone.
Now a lustful pair sit on the moss
hoping to repeat pleasures they had known.

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Pumpkin Advice Vol. 1

fall_finery
1.) Do not kick a rotting pumpkin, especially one that is bigger than your head.

2.) Use canned pumpkin for pumpkin pie. No one will know. It’s a zillion times less work, and as long as you really are using only canned pumpkin, as in JUST pumpkin in a can (no excess sugars or extraneous ingredients), it will do. Save home made roasted pumpkin for soups and fancy sides.

3.) When you’re picking out a pumpkin to carve, look for a thick and hearty stem, this is the sign of a healthy pumpkin. Also, pick the pumpkin up from the bottom, not from the stem, you brute!

4.) Canned pumpkin and canned pumpkin filling are not the same, so read carefully!

5.) “Pumpkin Preserver” sold at pumpkin patches and pop-up halloween costume stores is a waste of money! Don’t buy it! You can use household products, or even just put your pumpkin in the fridge overnight to preserve its good looks for as long as possible.

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Donny and Marie… and Your 2015 Gothtober Application

Applications for Gothtober are open until the 29th, won’t you join us?

ghost_call_2014We’re looking for films, slideshows, stories, ANYTHING that has to do with the number 13 or Halloween! We’ve had people share recipes, home made craft projects, cards, drawings, animations and more! Help us count down the days to the most gloriously ghoulie and gory day of the year. If you want to know more about gothtober, here’s our FAQ and if you want to see Gothtober in action, visit it now! 

Apply Today! 

Meanwhile, here’s some Halloween Entertainment from 1977: Donnie and Marie singing “Spooky” just for you. As if Donny’s shiny butterfly collar and creamsicle orange suit isn’t a show in itself, Marie arrives on frame wearing crinkly fall color lady sport coat with a bow the size of a tractor tire! The show’s guest stars: Ben Vereeen, Billy Crystal, Shirley Hemphill, and Christy McNicol make the night so deluxe it’s totally off the ranch! Then you get to minute 2:00 which is variety show fabulousness at it’s Esther Williams best, all swirling in the midst of a clever lattice of gnarled trees and funky glitter pumpkins. It’s everything you need, really.

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Crawling Out of the Crypt!

It’s officially midsummer, which is when Gothtober’s cobwebs are cleared and it is time to re-animate the dead.

Hankering for something that would start to put me in the pumpkin mood, I was introduced to a wonderful documentary called American Scream. It’a about “House Haunters”: everyday people like you and I who turn their houses and their lives upside down in the quest to build the craziest, scariest, most memorable Halloween experience on the block.

While it is definitely about devising all things needed to transform one’s yard into the creepiest it can possibly be, it turns out to be about so many other things. It’s about dreams, and families, and connection, and making stuff, and stressing out, and feeling simultaneously put out and rewarded by all of it. These people don’t make money off of their creations, they simply want to give their neighborhood a good time, and be remembered for it.

Before watching it, I thought it was going to be more “reality-TV” based with quick shots of residential kooks obsessed with Halloween and their varying levels of technical prowess. But the camera work takes the time to really sit with these people, and make you care about them immensely. They ARE Halloween obsessed, and they all have different Halloween house decor styles/philosophies. Each one of the film’s “heroes” have roped their families and friends into helping them with their colossal vision.

I suppose it got be a bit verklempt because Gothtober is sort of a “technical” version of something made that is a labour of love for the community. It’s made for the world. It’s a virtual haunted house that is both welcoming and terrifying. Launching Gothtober at midnight always gives me a huge thrill, it’s been my annual ritual every September 31st.

Anyway, watch this film, it’ll really make you love Halloween all over again!

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The Rocks of Chris Feldman Debut on Gothtober DAY 14


Visit Gothtober DAY 14 (The Hourglass) and see a funky little film involving the Rocks of the Gothtober MOM!

Chris Mom Feldman is a rock painter. She’s also a bicycle rider, Rotarian, business owner and tireless volunteer for various charities and events in her community. Mom’s all about community. I didn’t end up being a Head Candy Corn of Gothtober out of nowhere. Mom shows me all the time how reaching out to people and involving them in all kinds of cockamamie schemes is FUN and also extremely good for the well-being of people, and society in general.

Awhile ago I told Mom that maybe some rocks might look good on Gothtober, and she said she could make some pumpkin ones. Boy did she ever! I have never been so happy to receive a box of rocks via post! Mom says about the rocks:

“Some of them
have a personality, some scary and mean,
but all of them are silly at heart.”
Every one of Mom’s rocks was handpicked by her in places like Patrick’s Point up north, Goat Rock in Sonoma county and some river rocks.  She noted that they are so smooth from being tossed around by the sea and river flow.

Mom and I decided to pick the Gothtober date of October 14th for her rocks to go public, for a very special occasion, for a great guy.

This little Gothtober film was made by family for my FrankenBrother, James Parr, as today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy!
          Enjoy the “Rock Show!”

Love from Mom, Julianna and Coral

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Henry’s Kittens are Meowing! • DAY 13

amiga_catGlorious weirdness greets you for Gothtober DAY 13 (the book titled Witchful Thinking) from Canadian superstar animator, Amy Lockhart!  She lives in Guelph. where its very fall – like canada style – crisp/cold and rainy. This piece was made on Amiga Emulator with Dpaint software that was used in old animations – atari style (80s) giving it that good ol’ 8-bit tiny squares of goodness feeling from the days of Rubiks Cubes and magnetic cassette tapes. About this awesome animation, Amy says:

I was visiting LA, at Paul and Lecie and Francis’s place. The Wallers came over – Henry seemed a little shy, they mentioned the idea – maybe Trixy was there too – she told Henry he should ask me to animate it, ha. Anyways – I wanted to pretend it was a Hollywood meeting (ok maybe just a joke in my head) so I showed Henry some of my boobmilk, peeing and pooing animations to see if he wanted to work with me, he was into it then I storyboarded it.

Amy is considering providing a new service to the world, working with kids and making  animations of their perverse visions. Gothtober couldn’t agree more. The voices of children are often ignored or homogenized into commercial versions of the originals that feel more comfortable or marketable to grownups, who don’t want to think that kids can have wild and crazy ideas. We’re so thrilled that this one is out in the world, we hope it inspires more collaborations with kids, art, artists, parents, and artists-to-be.

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YOLO ‘Cause it’s FroYo! • Gothtober Day 12

waller_kids_pinkscary PinkScary is the place for you, if you enjoy exotic or uh… alarming toppings for your indeterminate yogurt-like substance desserts! Click on Gothtober DAY 12 (The Book titled War and Pieces) and enter into this first person P.O.V. gastronomic experience with the Waller Kids!

The infamous “Pink Slime” has nothing on PinkScary. And what of PinkBerry?

Well no one knows what that’s made of either, but it’s just not as tasty as what the the PinkScary franchise has developed. I mean it really does appear to be an artisan situation with all those hard-to-get ingredients. We hope you’ll be able to try some soon, but get over there before the lines get too long, its popularity is growing.