Author: Head Candy Corn

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Halloween 35th Anniversary Blu-Ray-Hey-Hey

It’s the 35th Anniversary of John Carpenter’s Halloween which means it’s time for a special edition Blu-ray release! Featuring commentary by Carpenter himself, take a trip down memory lane to watch one of the great prodigious horror films of the century. Halloween was selected intomichael_myers the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.This brand new shiny HD presentation’s transfer was supervised by the original cinematographer. This means you’ll be able to see every pore in Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis’s) face as she freaks out while many other sexually promiscuous substance-abusing teens meet their untimely demise in blood-curdling High Definition!
Bonus features on Halloween 35th Anniversary Blu-ray include:

  • All-new commentary track with writer/director John Carpenter and star Jamie Lee Curtis;
  • “The Night She Came Home” new featurette with Jamie Lee Curtis (HD);
  • On Location;
  • Trailers;
  • TV & Radio Spots;
  • Additional Scenes from TV Version

It’ll be released by Amazon on September 24th, 2013

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Griffith Park’s Haunted Hayride is Ba-a-a-a-ack… (shiver)

Screen shot 2013-07-25 at 2.02.36 PM

Oh god.

It’s back, it’s really back, and it’s promising to be more skin-crawling than ever. Take the quintessential charm of a hayride and then freak it the hell out with zombies that hang onto the cart and hiss in your ear and attempt to attack you and you have got an A for effort, my friend.

Even if you are the most stalwart “nothing scares me ever” kind of person, and you ride the whole thing with your arms crossed, looking for every rubber mask and thread of string, you must admit: they go all out.

The Old Zoo and B Rock (the hike to B rock is no small potatoes) have been deemed the most paranormally active locations in all of California, and Griffith Park being so big, has been host to quite a few episodes of torture and murder. This year’s show will be based on real events (ack ack ack) so prepare for some wandering souls that are going to want to climb on your hay cart.

‘Nuff said.

Tickets go on Sale Soon, meantime, visit the site! 

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The Anaheim Halloween Parade visits Gothtober DAY 27

Kevin Kidney flying the Sasser to Ruby’s for a Pumpkin Shake

Hip Hip Hooray, it’s the Anaheim Halloween Parade TODAY! Click on Gothtober Pumpkin #27 and enjoy Kevin Kidney’s tell-all tale of a city that knows how to dress up for All Hallow’s Eve! The very first Anaheim Halloween Parade was in 1924, with home run baseball superstar, Babe Ruth, served as grand marshal! Kevin Kidney drove the “Flying Sasser” down the street today, the Sasser has a lot of wonderful facts and history, it’s original debut was in 1953 when the parade’s theme was “Out of this World.” The Anaheim Historical Society went to work re-creating the Sasser in all of its glory, you can read all about Anaheim’s history and see a step-by-step photo essay showing how to build a Sasser, in case you need to escape from any body snatchers or little green men!

Kevin is part of the fabulous duo Kevin & Jody, they are Anaheim and Tiki enthusiasts, and you can find them doing crazy awesome things like painting the interior of Trader Sam’s at Downtown Disney, sporting lederhosen at Oktoberfest, or making incredible paper art and paintings.

The Original Sasser from 1953

 

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Dapper Cadaver’s Gory Greatness for Gothtober Day 25

Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, playing with ARMS! Eeeeeek!

Hold the phone, did I just see someone playing jump rope with intestines?!? Must be very close to Halloween, and Dapper Cadaver’s Day 25 is a nice reminder that you really need to let out that inner child… or die trying. Eileen Winslow’s directorial debut is playful and horrifying, just the way we like it! You’ll be delighted after the nightmares subside!

Listen to the melodious accordion and various sound sensations as a vaguely robotic and gauze-covered voice sings you a childhood favorite, while a pair of sisters (? just guessing) help us revisit a time when everything was sweet and perfect. When is the last time you played hopscotch? How about a fun game of catch? A tear may glisten in your eye as you recall the pastimes of yesteryear, when things were simpler, less complicated. Or you may have a completely different reaction to this piece altogether, though it is a headless piece, it’s full of heart (and arms… and uh… bones… um…)

If you’ve never been to Dapper Cadaver’s unassuming building on San Fernando road, and you are in need of bizarre items in decorative glass apothecary jars, or perhaps you need a foam pick-axe that will fool even the most discerning weapons master, or even if you just need lots and lots of HEADS, this is your place. The work and care taken by Dapper Cadaver to make the most authentically macabre props for television and movies (Dexter, Bones, Law & Order) as well as countless haunted houses  (including The White House) could be described basically as “beautifully awful.” Even though everything fabricated here is totally fake, you will nevertheless experience a creepy unease that is absolutely involuntary and thrilling. Dapper Cadaver is unsettling and wonderful because it is haunted with not only terrifying specimens, but the energy and aura of a fiercely creative and innovative mad laboratory and factory working at a feverish and depraved pace. Sometime, just for fun, tell a good friend you have some “errands” to run, and have them tag along with you to Dapper Cadaver, watch them freak out in horror and wonder.

 

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Something for Everyone on Gothtober DAY 22

Blue monster’s lonely castle

If you like birds, projection booths, lonely castles, hot air balloons and disco dancing zombies, never fear, DAY 22 is here!
Kristen Pepe does it again! With a wonderful little film absolutely packed with really cool monsters and cats, skilled and pretty color combinations, and some totally fantastic pop culture reference clues that make this short film enjoyable for everyone! For instance: did you notice the Night of the Comet movie poster in the theater where the projectionist bird works? There’s also reference to a certain teen witch, as well as some zombies who come out to play.

This piece is not unlike the sitcom Three’s Company in that there is a misunderstanding of a situation (in this case, Blue Monster doesn’t understand that Halloween isn’t about getting bullied, it’s about dressing up and having mischievous fun) and calamity ensues. There is plenty of calamity, and heartwarming selflessness as friends help each other, and there’s even a few spells you want to remember.

If you’re hidden away in your lonely castle, don’t end up like the Phantom of the Opera, come out and play with us this Halloween!

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Rainbones Bringing the Bright Fright for Gothtober Day 21

Black Light Magic by Lok, Wileen and Teri!

Dazzling ghouls are out to get us! Click on Gothtober’s Pumpkin 21 and find yourself in the midst of a dark and dreamlike realm where perhaps you shouldn’t have decided to investigate what goes bump in the night! These otherworldly apparitions are not shy, they are in your face, they will playfully scare the wits out of you, maybe even poltergeist a few things in your abode just to make you jump.

They might be demons, they might be sprites, they may even be creatures that scare away dark magic, only the spirit world knows for sure! Through the swirling purple smoke is a choreographed seance of movement and dissolving realities, laughter that may be directed at you or in spite of you. Whatever you do, just make sure you don’t make ’em mad, they look like absolute trouble! It’s Rainbones!

Rainbones, also know as Lok Hwa, Wileen Rungsiridacha, and Teri Osato had some exciting challenges in this piece that they’d never done before:

  1. Recording everyday objects and their voices to create a song
  2. Painting their bodies with fluorescent tempera paints
  3.  Filming in blacklight!

Learn more about Wileen, her mad lab of experimental projects and crocheted cactuses at Frogafish

Find out more about Lok Hwa the nocturnal special effects artsy-fartsy guy by visiting LokHwa.com

Order awesome cards from Teri the graphic designer mustachio superstar at Osato Design 

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Great Flamin’ Brains it’s Oonstein’s Gothtober DAY 20!

Stay Golden, Oh Golden Brain…

Are you a right brained person, or a left brained person? Never fear, find pumpkin #20 and the rainbow bridge of all hemispheres in all colors surprises and delights in this brain counting film from the cerebellum oblongata of Oonstein! As mentioned in previous posts, it is the 10th anniversary of Gothtober, and artists were encouraged to celebrate our very first decade with the number 10, or a Halloween theme, and Oonstein has succeeded in doing BOTH in an especially brainy way.

I’ve been in Oonstein’s workshop, and I was astonished to see brains brains everywhere. The original brain was hand sculpted, and then replicated into an unusually large encephalic stockpile of literally “buckets of brains.” Many buckets full of tiny resin brains were sitting here there and everywhere on shelves, ledges, wherever you could find a surface, there were brains. Trying not to appear too enthusiastic, I casually enquired “What are you going to do with these?” and the answer was “Oh, you’ll see.”

That was awhile ago, so imagine my great surprise to know that ALL THOSE BRAINS turned into a Busby Berkeley-esque tour de force of animated colorful formation! Actually, by now, there may be brains that we don’t even know about, the place could be overflowing with gray matter, and what Oonstein does with them next is anybody’s guess.

In the meantime, let your thoughts wander, imagine your brain, free from your head, wandering around becoming part of a special brainy dance troupe, or being in a brain diorama, expand your imagination and see where your mind goes!

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Sweetening Things UP for Gothtober DAY 19

Counting with Countess Von Count…

Today we bring you a selection of recipes in honor of Gothtober’s 10th Anniversary, courtesy of Countess Von Count! Click pumpkin #19 on the Gothtober Countdown Calendar and Drool your way through a superabundance of delectable dishes designed to make all of your sweet tooth dreams come true!

Anyone who knows Vero Lego knows that she is an EVIL BAKER. She is evil in that her creations are always creative, always delicious and ALWAYS irresistible! This year she went right off the deep end in working her tail off making a TON of crazy creepy recipes that you can print out and make yourself in time for October 31st on All Hallow’s Eve!

What’s more, she was able to bring her baked goods in to CraftNight and have an unofficial “tasting panel” at Akbar and people were having trouble eating just “one” of the ghosts (which purportedly contain Nutter Butters™) among other treats. I myself enjoyed the mellow snickerdoodle taste of a “witch’s broom” paired with it’s salty pretzel broomstick. Still others enjoyed “Ogre Toes” and Terry (handsome Akbar watchman) kept sneaking in to eat more cupcakes, which is probably the best endorsement a cook could have. He even took home a couple of monster eyes! The “tasting panel” was very satisfied indeed, and contributed to a

When gentlemen in a gay bar ignore their “boyish figure” to eat home made sweet treats, you know it’s a success! Hat’s off to te chef! Also… if you notice that the Countess resembles a certain puppet vampire from Sesame Street, that’s no accident. The Count, as he is known, was played by Muppeteer, Jerry Nelson, for 40 years before Jerry passed away this year. This counting piece is a lovely homage to a wonderful man, who I had the pleasure of working with in 1995 – 96 on Muppets Tonight. He was also famous for playing Dr. Julius Strangepork, Floyd Pepper (my favorite) and Kermit’s nephew, Robin. Find out more about Jerry’s legacy by visiting the Celebrating Jerry Nelson channel on YouTube. And you can read an essay by Jerry about his career here a the Muppet Wikia.

– Julianna (JP) Parr, Head Candy Corn, Gothtober.com

 

 

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Rockin’ to 10 in German with Harrison and Howe’s Gothtober Day 18

In the spirit of Oskar Fischinger and Len Lye and Sesame Street arrives the electro-power-pack indefatigable ROCK YOUR FACE OFF countdown from Howe and Harrison’s Pumpkin 18 on the Gothtober Calendar. 

The theme for Gothtober this year was to either go back to our roots, so to speak, and observe Halloween, OR do something having to do with the power of 10, since it is our 10th Anniversary! Weirdly enough, the countdown pieces we have so far are in observance of the German language (see Gothtober Pumpkin 12) but these two german countdown pieces could not be more different! I’m digging the fact that if you were never able to count to 10 in German previously, Gothtober help you. We can help you in a really pastoral trippy hand-made illustrations way, or we can help you in an electronic crazy pop colored abstract geometric way, you choose, and I hope you choose both!

The original music by Howe and Harrison is the kind I could imagine you putting in your headphones and running 10 miles at 5am. OR you could hear this in a club and sweat out all those well drinks you so unwisely imbibed earlier in the evening. You could just play this in your head to psyche yourself up before the big test, the huge meeting, the extreme housecleaning task you’re ready to tackle. However you use it, the motivational power of the drums and badass sneer of the electric guitar will force  you to conquer anything on your agenda, no matter how inconsequential.

Monica Howe is known as LaMuff, fine purveyor of musical things you should probably go see.

Robbie Harrison can be found at ToyMasulina where music, film and art are getting ever more weird and fantasic.

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A Shameless Plug on Behalf of Lesbian Werewolves

Lunatic Fringe Book Cover Illustrated by Julianna (JP) Parr

Want to make an investment in lesbian werewolves this Halloween?

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of designing and illustrating the cover for Allison Moon’s lesbian werewolf book “Lunatic Fringe.” This was Allison’s first novel, she didn’t have a big budget (or any budget to speak of, actually) so I helped her out. Now she’s written a sequel, and she’s raising money to pay me and her editor, because we are awesome, and she can’t stand asking us to work for prunes again.

There are 23 more days to go to reach a $4,500 goal, help us out if you can!

WHERE THE MONEY GOES:

Funds from Allison’s Kickstarter will help her pay JP (that’s me!) illustrator/graphic designer ($1000) for a new, gorgeous cover, and Allison’s editor ($1000) for her shrewd eye and thoughtful analysis.

Additional funds will support the creation and shipping of merch, the setup and distribution of the paperback books, and help Allison finish the novel for its Spring release date. Self publishing is INSANE, it is beyond blood sweat and tears, and the amount Allison is asking for is pretty modest, compared to a normal book launch. I know her well and am confident that she’ll use funds wisely and stretch the dough to boost herself and the book with four times the amount of outreach and production that she was able to do on practically nothing! That’s why making her Kickstarter goal would be really really wonderful!

Find out more about Allison Moon at her Tales of the Pack website. This is what a feminist werewolf looks like!

Julianna (JP) Parr
Head Candy Corn of Gothtober.com