Welcome to Gothtober where every day is Friday the 13th. Today’s film is brought to you by Cristin Pescosolido, it’s called “The Luckiest Woman in the World” or is she? Watch carefully as “Jen” gambles with old-time superstitions.
This film uses SPECIAL EFFECTS! I know for a fact that the cat, Charlie, in the film is a grey cat, but Cristin managed to change his appearance in one of the shots! Here’s a little show and tell that gives you a peek into 21st century movie magic.
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!
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:
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.
Love from Mom, Julianna and Coral
Glorious 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.
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!
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.
Gothtober DAY 11 (book titled “Huckleberry Djinn” gives you an abstract mystery of sorts, with beautiful imagery from MovingGarden! Lush greenery, a very trippy pinecone and some wild surroundings illuminated by the moon will make you ponder:
We know not where it came from, but now it won’t leave us alone. Click on the Skull Bobblehead for Gothtober DAY 9 and be greeted with another Skull… and some operatic torture! Captured on video for the very first time is this wayward spirit that insists on singing opera to us as we work into the night on Gothtober’s haunted offerings. It first began last week, right before the calendar launched, and now it is sung at least twice per day, once when the moon arrives on the horizon, and again, later, when the moon is about to sink behind the hills.
While the dedication and passion for opera is appreciated, we hope that the Singy Songy Skull meets whoever it is singing to so that we may get some rest.
Gothtober DAY 7 (The Book titled Jane Weyre) brings us a chilling, thrilling and exquisite florescent light adventure with voice work by the Gump siblings, Arrow and Pixie Gump!
Arrow Gump supplies the harrowing narration, Pixie Gump supplies the voice of the Monster Baby, and PapaWapa Gump staged and animated all of the beautiful hand made props and scenery to form a heck of a family project! Put together with the expert editing stylistics of Brandon Minton, and man, have we got THE MONSTER’S GRAAAAAVE!!!!
Enjoy what will become a seasonal favorite for years to come, and if you see an angry green baby marching your way: Run!!!! (and then call us, because we need to know what happens next.)
Want to see some other amazing things from Michael and Brandon, respectively?
Have you been feeling okay? Visit Gothtober.com and click on Book 6, the one titled Tom Slayer. If you’re not feeling quite right, you might want to check out this informational pamphlet that gives you some useful tips on the symptoms you are experiencing this Halloween.
Saida Staudenmaier has quite the touch with the makeup brush, her site has some other Gothtoberesque photos on it, plus stuff from many of her other professional endeavors, check it out! Saida is quite fond of zombie makeup, she actually did a series of portraits based on the dearly departed, everyone looks a tad “stale” in an alluring yet repelling way that only Saida could truly master.
Hat’s off also to Jennifer Wenzlaff, the “main zombie” in this piece. Gothtober is powered by SparkleBlob, a multidisciplinary arts and performance collective, your Head Candy Corn is Executive Director. Jen is on the SparkleBlob Board of Directors, and we think that this photo of her really shows you what SparkleBlob is all about, doesn’t she look great? Most importantly, she looks like she’s recently eaten brains, so we can breathe easy… for now.
Visit Gothtober and click on the book titled “Discover the Zombie Within” which is number four, respectively. FromWalter Ortiz and Actor/Producer Ryan Barbato is preview of wicked shenanigans that will curdle your mascara! Slayánce is an off-the-wall horror-adventure-comedy about a séance that goes horribly, but hilariously wrong!