Author: Head Candy Corn

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Heart-Heart-Heart-Heart Beats for Gothtober DAY 12

Get out your heart rate monitor and set up the EKG, coming at you is the latest and greatest from LaMuff, the fiery, fierce and fabulous songstress out of Los Angeles, California. This piece will hit you with savory sweet electric beats that will get your toes tapping and your blood pumping.

LaMuff’s been part of Gothtober for years, visit our archives and find her in adventures past, from wearing gold lamé, to being the voice of a fast food hamburger, to surrounding herself with stop-motion candy.

You can find news about upcoming performances by visiting LaMuff.com and if you want the convenience of watching LaMuff right from the comfort of your monitor, check out her YouTube channel featuring LaShow! Here’s a little sample:

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Impress Talks Travel for Gothtober DAY 11

When Impress speaks, people listen.
When Impress speaks, people listen.

She’s here, she’s dead, and she’s Gothtober DAY 11 (luggage #11) to you! Clutch your pearls and kick up you heels, this is Impress’s ghostly debut, and she’s going to wash those gold-plated problems you’ve got right down the Airbus toilet.

She knows that American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing 1 olive from each salad served in first class, and she wants that olive BACK. 

She also knows that cocktails are an airline’s third biggest expense, after fuel and maintenance. She has directly contributed to that statistic.

She remembers a time before now, when planes were planes and chicken was fish. Sit back, put your tray table down, order a gin and tonic, and enjoy!

 

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Totally Tubular Tulips for Gothtober DAY 10

Fast & Funsters (visit Gothtober and select luggage #10) bring you a variation on a classic, their interpretation of  Totally Tulips. Just like in the original, every single custom shirt/wearable showcased item was made by Fast and Funsters, this film was months in the making! Tulip fabric paint is still on the market, going strong, you can use “slick” or “puffy” versions to sass up ANY piece of clothing, as demonstrated by Fast & Funsters. After seeing their video, it’s pretty much a given that you’re gonna be feeling tulip. Totally. Tulip. 

Of special note is the “stump dress” which was also sewn completely from scratch. You’ll see it when Lecie pops up from out of a tree stump. Coco the cat, a big fan of Gothtober, who likes to crash Gothtober films often, has outdone herself this year, in a spectacular rainbow-jumping/riding stunt that has to be seen to be believed. Don’t try this at home!

We’re hoping to see “the director’s cut” one day, or when the DVD comes out, hopefully there will be some exclusive outtakes from “the making of” or any footage that was left on the cutting room floor. The credits, by Zola, are featured here as their own movie, if you’d like to know more about who was involved in this early-90s-tastic tour-de-force, just press play!

And if you’d like to see the original vintage Totally Tulips video that served as the inspiration for the updated Fast & Funsters version, here it is below. I can’t stop hearing the song in my head, it’s very inspirational.

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Health Fair with Doctor Paul! Gothtober DAY 9

At the stroke of midnight, on October first, 2013, Gothtober launched…. and so did the shut down of the US Government! For Gothtober DAY 9 we have a special reminder and musical presentation brought to you by Dr. Paul (doctor, musician, artist) and animator, Lori D. that Healthcare is a Human Right! 

The Doctor recommends that you visit Healthcare.gov right away and get started on your health plan, otherwise your taxes will go up, and if a gnarly haunted tree bops you on the head, you won’t be covered! Neither vampire bites or werewolf scratches are covered either!

If you’re in California, you can also visit Covered California!

Other recommendations from Doctor Paul include: 

  • Getting your flu shot
  • Eating low sodium kettle corn
  • Don’t exceed three gobstoppers per day
  • Avoid listening to excessive amounts of news media, it causes anxiety!

Who is Tommy Douglas, you may inquire? A CBC Television show voted Tommy Douglas “The Greatest Canadian” based on a viewer-supported survey! The leader of the Saskatchewan CCF elected 1942, The Honorable Douglas built a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in Canada. Doctor Paul hails from Canada, and suffice it to say, is a huge supporter of health care for all, and so is Gothtober! While we don’t have socialized medicine in the good ol’ US of A, Obamacare is a good start! The US needs affordable health care, we voted on it, it’s time! Let’s all pitch in and take care of each other.

And who is Lori D? Only one of the coolest animators we know! She lives up in Portland, OR.  Check out her work, glad to have you aboard, Lori D! 

You should check out this wonderful piece she did for Yo Gabba Gabba featuring Paco’s Listen. 

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The TSA Took My Baby Away! Heather Harkins, Gothtober DAY 8

Banjolele
Heather “Hard Time” Harkins, showing off her 1920s banjolele!

It’s “Tawdry Tuesday” for Gothtober DAY 8 and Heather Harkins is pushing the limits of our delicate nature by bringing us this revealing piece about airport scans! 2013 marks the end of nude scans in U.S. Airports! Gothtober International Airport is no different, it’s still using the nude scans until they go out of service, and Heather documented what goes on with these machines!

Heather lives in Nova Scotia, that’s right, you heard me: Nova Scotia! That’s very far away from Los Angeles, the home of Gothtober. This is very thrilling because the beauty of internet art is that you can be thousands of miles away and STILL be part of the Gothtober Countdown Calendar. Gothtober hopes to keep luring artists from all over the world to it’s creepy countdown crypt!

About this piece, Harkins says

I don’t know anyone who enjoys going through airport security, so I thought that by setting my piece at an airport security checkpoint, there would be an element of squeamish terror. Once that creepiness was out of the way, and I let myself be entirely goofy with my drawings and the accompanying jingle.

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I asked Heather, when she sent in the jingle that goes with her piece if she was playing a banjo or a ukelele, and the answer is YES! She’s playing a 1920s banjolele that she found in Rochester, NY and took back with her to Nova Scotia. This is the banjolele’s VERY FIRST public debut! You heard it on Gothtober!

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Playin’ Games and Takin’ Names with Dianne Chadwick for Gothtober DAY 7

Work in progress, as Dianne was designing...
Work in progress, as Dianne was designing…

Happy Monday! To start off the week, Dianne Chadwick made you a BOARD GAME!!! OmigoshOmigosh how fun is THAT?!? All you have to do is visit DAY 7 on Gothtober.com and download the game, follow the instructions, and you’re ready to experience the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat. The game is called “Trick or Treat” and it consists of three pages that you print out, cut and assemble. It’s for players 5 and up, Dianne used her very own 5-year-old as her test subject, and said that

He loved it, but mostly just wanted to eat the candy.

Dianne wanted to make a game that you can pretty much play anywhere, all you really need is access to candy and coffee container lids (to serve as “cauldrons”) Here’s some info from the official “box instructions” of the game

It’s Halloween and mischief is in the air! Collect as much candy as you can and return home before your house is trashed by marauding tricksters!

One of the great things about this game is that if you lose game pieces, no worries. Just head to the snack bar and purchase some more jelly beans. Dianne hasn’t played this game with four people yet, so if you want to give feedback or tell us how you did playing “Trick or Treat” with four or more players, let us know. You should be able to extend game play by acquiring more candy. “Trick or Treat” can be played at the park, at recess, during your lunch hour, on the train, practically anywhere, it’s made for travel. We’ll be playing the game at CraftNight (at Akbar) this week, thanks Dianne for giving us this very clever and beautifully designed diversion for the Halloween holiday!

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Lots of Letters for DAY 6 of Gothtober!

 

An astonishing amount of meticulous movement went into “16 Letters” by Stephanie Abler, you’ll see the arrival and transformation of many words in this piece dedicated to some specimens of the modern English alphabet.

About this piece, Steph says

This impish six-minute stop-motion animated piece plays with moveable letters that represent a partial selection of the alphabet, morphing a few letters at a time into a succession of words. Reflecting on the malleability and abstract power of language and thought, I expanded on the meaning of and my personal associations with each word using sound and images, with sometimes rather quirky results.

If you’d like to know more about the piece, and Ms. Abler’s other wonderful works, check out her blog! 

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Caleb Ossmann Rocks LEGO Stop-Motion Baggage Claim for Gothtober DAY 5

Caleb Ossmann, building his Gothtober piece!
Caleb Ossmann, building his Gothtober piece!

The airport hijinx continues as we visit the haunted LEGO version of LAX’s famous terminal 4!  Caleb Ossmann is the youngest artist that Gothtober has ever hosted! Caleb is 13 years old, he’s worked very hard on this gorgeous Gothtober piece for DAY 5, and we salute him heartily, great work, Caleb, thanks for showing us your amazing talents! As an Experimental Animation major at CalArts, I can tell you that animators have to be just a little insane to keep all those stop-motion pieces synced and fluid. The Young Ossmann shows us here that he is well on his way to becoming a master animator, and will undoubtedly create ever more fun and fascinating works of art. We’re very excited to have him aboard, he’s exactly the kind of insane we’re looking for when it comes to Gothtober Greatness!

Fun Facts about Caleb Ossmann’s Piece for Gothtober!

-Caleb has been making stop motion movies since he was 10.
– He filmed all the work himself and composed the music in his dad’s studio.
-The stop motion process took over 50 hours, and then some.
-He also had an essay deadline about the constitution the SAME day!
-The back wall is inspired by the famous LAX colored tile wall.
-He made the whole movie in a closet under the stairs.
-Caleb and his brother Archer have appeared in past Gothtober offerings, most notably “Aunt Connie” starring Michele East and Barry Morse.

The tile wall at LAX’s Terminal 4 is very famous, since thousands of people have seen them since their completion in 1961 by Charles D. Kratka (Oct. 12th, 1922 – Nov 8th, 2007). Some say the wall’s tile represented the changing seasons, other’s have heard the tile colors are supposed to symbolize flying across the U.S. Here’s a little video someone put on YouTube so you can experience the tiles for yourself!

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Buckle Your Treatbelts with Henschel & Roth’s DAY 4!

Give the broom a break and let WitchWay Scairlines take you to your destination!

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Now then, who are the alluring and mysterious Henschel & Roth?

The highest paid lounge cover act of all time had their first show at a Sizzler in Pomona, they rose to stardom quickly. But eventually, ego and drugs almost destroyed Henschel & Roth. But they ran into each other at Gelson’s and they’re BACK! Check out their story and visit their YouTube channel and check ’em out on Facebook to find out where they’ll be performing live!

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Penny’s from Heaven (Mike Penny on DAY 3)

Mike Penny, that is, with DAY 3’s very turbulent and supernatural account of a bizarre trip on a helicopter! You’ll see some of your favorite personalities from “the other side” or what some people have deemed “the great beyond.”

This short film stars Jean Natalia of Wig Out fame, Jean also recently hosted SparkleBlob’s Spooky-tacular Autumn Gala at the Bob Baker Theater in Los Angeles. Wig Out is a monthly club featuring cabaret presentations by an entirely wig-clad cast of performers. Both patrons and those who brave the stage are clad in wigs, it’s always a night to remember, and it’s always lots of fun, nightclub glamour with edgy wigs, what else could a person need in Los Angeles?!?

So what’s that crazy Japanese banjo-type thingy Mike’s playing at the end of the video? Well, that’s called a shamisen, a three-stringed fretless instrument that you play with something that looks a lot like what you’d use to scrape ice off the windshield (a plectrum or bachi.) It is believed that the ancestor of the shamisen was introduced in the 16th century at port Sakai near Osaka, Japan. As you might guess, an instrument like this has some seriously detailed and highly-studied types of playing, and even the instrument itself, and it’s plectrum are divvied up into different thicknesses and lengths, so that there is an exhaustive amount of shamisen information should you want to buy one or get started playing one.

This video from 2010 shows you how the shamisen and banjo are similar, but different!

And here’s Mike doing the Tennessee Waltz on three strings, with improvisation included!

I have no idea how long Mike Penny has been playing the shamisen, but I can tell you that he can shred out an incredible version of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns-n-Roses on that thing, it’s mesmerizing to watch him play. Mike is not the only shamisen player following “non-traditional genres” but he does have a style all his own when he plays it. If you’d like to see/hear more Mike Penny, visit his YouTube site and the Mike Penny Orchestra site today!

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