Tag: Halloween

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Unveiling the Magic for 2023: It’s Almost Time for Gothtober

The Moon is out, and so is all that goes bump in the night

Hold onto your hay bales, we’re about to bring you our annual anticipated countdown of spooky and artistic Autumnal delights!

We’re pleased as pumpkin pie to report that Gothtober is now 21 years old. Gothtober is old enough do drink! Our 2023 edition contains creative offerings catered to this new milestone through the theme: “Potions and Elixirs” (in addition to the usual theme, which is simply “Halloween.”)

At the strike of midnight our calendar unveils a new contributor each day of October. In case you’ve never experienced it before, we’re taking you on a lil’ artistic journey.

Enjoy a celebration of the holiday’s rich traditions, and eerie charms, with an ability to stir the cauldron of your imagination. I don’t censor anyone, so it’s kind of a blend of both dark and delightful. For example, you can expect just about anything! There will be many short movies. Gothtober’s also got recipes, and crafts! We’ve always got a diverse ensemble ranging from veterens like Jenny Walsh, an artist who has been in the calendar since 2004 to her son, Harry, an emerging talent, who is now a Gothtober artist as well!

Best thing about the Gothtober Countdown Calendar? You don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. You can find Gothtober.com on your Desktop, tablet, or phone! While older parts of the calendar (dated all the way back to 2003) are not accessible yet, we’ve worked hard to make sure the NEW version of Gothtober can be accessed by anyone with a computer screen. As Head Candy Corn of Gothtober, I welcome you to the mysteries, the magic, the madness of this thing we build every year, brought to you, just a click away.

Yours in goblets of gross gooey gulps of rat’s blood and kitten eyeballs,

JP Head Candy Corn

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Gothtober Applications Close at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!!

Ask not for whom the bell tolls… it tolls for THEEEEEEEE!!!!

Midnight TONIGHT the door creeks closed, the vault is locked, the tomb is shut, there is NO TURNING BACK.

When witches go flying,
and black cats go MEOW
the moon laughs and whispers,
“Apply for Gothtober NOW!”

Join your fellow autumnal enthusiasts! Share your pumpkin collection, your autumn gardening tips, a recipe for severed finger soup!

Here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

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Gothtober’s Application Deadline EXTENDED to Sept. 1st!!!

GOTHTOBER APPLICATIONS EXTENDED! 

 

We’re so close to our roster being complete, but we are still seeking new blood!

Make Public Internet Art and achieve worldwide FAME!!!

APPLY BY SEPTEMBER 1st!

Learn about and Apply for Gothtober, here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

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5 Reasons You Should Make Art for Gothtober 2017

AUTUMN WANTS YOU! 

Less than SIX days remain for you to join this happy haunted hovel of depraved creative souls called GOTHTOBER! Why should you sweat and toil to make some kind of artistic offering for the Gothtober Countdown Calendar?

1.) It’s ALL Art! Music, Photography, Recipes, Singing, Dancing, Acting, Gardening, Performing, Fencing, Drawing, ANYTHING can be art! The definition is wide open, we have some perimeters for movie and slideshow length, but other than that, there’s nothing to keep you from being as fabulous and weird as you want to share!

2.) Yes huh you can do it! You’re a human being, which means you’re just naturally curious about stuff, and creativity is an inherent part of your nature. Making, doing and sharing things is your legacy as homo sapiens. You were born to create, use those opposable thumbs and give us a whirl!

3.) Find “You Time” Who has time to make things anyway? NOBODY. That’s where getting your butt kicked by me, Gothtober’s Head Candy Corn, will help you figure out how to carve out time like a pumpkin to meet your Gothtober deadlines. You’ll begin and finish to completion something of yours, for you, for the good of the Halloween season.

4.) Fire Up Your Passion Is your guitar gathering dust? Did you forget what it’s like to spend hours working on paper puppets with joints made of dental floss? When’s the last time you shared that awesome recipe for Fall Flavor Allspice Cookies?  What happened to those ghost throw pillow crafts you were going to make and share? Get back into that feeling of making something from your hands, and feel profoundly alive and happy.

5.) Give Something to the World When you make art for Gothtober, along with your fellow Gothtober contributors, you bring something new to thousands of spectators waiting to see what you made! You might get fan mail, you might get weird comments about your work, you might inspire someone, you might surprise yourself with what you’re capable of making!

So come on down, send in your application, commit to a thing even though everything’s crazy and there’s no time! We wanna see what you will do!

Learn about and Apply for Gothtober, here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

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Yes, Dracula, There WILL be a SpongeBob Halloween Stop-Motion Special!

I’m trying really hard not to hyperventilate while typing this because I’m just SO EXCITED to learn that The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom is coming to your television (via Nickolodeon) this October AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! While I was a wee bachelor’s student, running around CalArts and learning the joys and rigors of Experimental Animation, there was this GUY.

His name was Steve Hillenburg, and every time I was running in and out of the lab, he was working on his stuff. 

He was eleven years older than me, which felt super OLD, and super SMART. People even FIVE years older than you when you’re 18 seem like demigods. Where I felt pulled in all directions and trying to hush my overwhelmed mind, Steve’s presence in the Experimental Animation department was quiet, strong and steady. He did not mess around, he put pencil and pen to paper everyday to build his film, frame by frame. I watched it happen, wondering what he was up to, and then one day, it was ready! Here’s one of the films I saw him hand-drawing all those days at his desk, it’s called The Green Beret. 

So anyway, that GUY I went to school with invented SpongeBob Squarepants, and you can just SEE in the style, the humor, every last pitch perfect observation of a hilarious cartoon underwater weirdo world just couldn’t come from any brain but Steve’s. If you haven’t seen the Spongebob Squarepants Holiday Special, it’s well done, and such a love letter to the Rankin Bass stop-motion animation specials of old. I can’t wait to see this Halloween Treat from an ol’ school chum!  

(From L-R) Mr. Krabs, Flying Dutchman, Plankton, Squidward, Sandy, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick in Nickelodeon’s stop-motion special, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. Credit: Screen Novelties/Nickelodeon© 2017 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights

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Peanut Brittle for DAY 7

DAY 7 on Gothtober is all about CANDY.

peanut_brittle_001There are people who give out toothbrushes to trick or treaters, and then there are the people in the world who are ALIVE. Halloween is not about restraint, or making sense, or paying attention to limits, or going on a diet. Halloween is about rotting your teeth. That’s why we believe this recipe for Peanut Brittle isn’t just a recipe, it’s a Public Service Announcement.

Sure, you can buy peanut brittle and stuff your face and lay on the couch and moan and feel regret, but why do that when you can really fall down the rabbit hole and make your own? If you’re going to feel like you ate too much peanut brittle, make sure it was good peanut brittle. And make sure you did the work that it takes to make delicious, crunchy, melty, peanutty peanut brittle, because the work makes it taste better.

Anything you have to stir for more than a half an hour deserves your attention and appreciation. We recommend that you make this recipe with a friend, because it’s fun to take turns stirring.

And hey, it’s true, the dentist isn’t going to be thrilled with your peanut brittle consumption. But it’s Halloween. And it’s real sugar, real butter, real peanuts, and it’s home made. There is a difference, and no dentist can deny it. It’s time for Peanut Brittle.

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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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The Most Dangerous Show on Earth: Gothtober Day 13

The Vampire Ringmaster of The Halloween Circus!

It’s death-defying, it’s stupefying, it’s THE MOST INCREDIBLE SHOW YOU’LL EVER SEE! And it’s all visible by clicking Gothtober Pumpkin #13!!! The Gump Family has done it again with a spectacle you’ll not want to miss this Spooky season!

Michael Gump of BananaBee Lab has wrangled the Gump household and friends into making a marvelous pageant of colorful Halloween Circus display.  You’ll see trained spiders! (I think they’re saying “yummy yummy” is that correct?) You’ll see the Strongest Monster,  you’ll see the funny clowns and SO MUCH MORE!

The master of ceremonies is voiced by the young and amazing Arrow Gump, and you can hear his (also quite amazing) younger sister Pixie in the background providing dynamic fanfare! Daddy Gump can be heard as various characters, and Mama Gump was doing a bit of puppetry here and there.

Joel and JJ Day Departments helped with the camera magic, and Grapejuice helped edit the thing into the fast-paced, action-packed showstopper that it is today.

Apparently, Arrow walked up to his Dad and said “Dad, we’re doing The Halloween Circus this year” and so the project began with all the making and doing that goes along with building a circus! Gotta put up the tents, water the um… crocodiles and get those skeletons and spiders in line! This family really knows how to put on a show.

I hear that Halloween circuses are especially challenging since half of the staff is nocturnal, which is also something that Gothtober has here at the headquarters, a succinct inability to regulate decent circadian rhythms, and such is the life of vampires.  Anyway, go see The Halloween Circus, it’s a rousing success, you can watch it over and over again and it just keeps getting more exciting!

The Gump Family during Halloween of 2011

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Spooky Postage Stamps for Gothtober DAY 6

Bill Parr surrounded by nature in either the late 60s or early 70s.

Visit Gothtober’s Pumpkin #6 for a special symposium on true tales of mystery and intrigue!

“Dad, do you have any spooky stamps?” I said.
“Hmmm… I don’t think so, I tend to only collect pre-1945…”
Me – “Oh but that’s PERFECT! I bet you have stamps commemorating weird buildings, or mysterious historical figures, unsolved mysteries, stories, authors…”
Dad – “Well… now that you think of it…”
Thus, a Father/Daughter collaborative Gothtober project began, where my Dad went through his extensive pre-1945 collection of stamps, and then went online to sleuth out even more excitingly spooky stamp story possibilities. He found everything, he found all manner of fascinating subjects, he is nothing if not thorough.
My Dad is a philatelist.
Since the age of 16 he’s been studying and collecting postage stamps.
He also worked for Sonoma County as a Senior Systems Analyst for about 34 years, which means he appreciates a good flow chart and believes in inventing creative solutions that process assorted types of information in a practical and workable order.
When I was a little kid, computers were louder and larger than our refrigerator, and I spent a lot of time drawing on the leftover punch cards filled with holes that Dad would sometimes bring home for me when he came home from work.
Fast forward to this day and age where my Step Mom, Ma Peg, watches Dad prepare to go to stamp conventions, and she says “I’m not goin’ to that, it’s a big ol’ NERD FEST!” And she heads for the antique exhibits, and I don’t blame her one bit. Stamp conventions (from what I remember from visiting a couple with Dad when I was a kid) aren’t exactly a rousing hootenanny of extreme excitement, involving chiefly a lot of hushed voices, hunching over tiny engraved and gummed pieces of paper with magnifying glasses and glassine paper and special dorky binders that hold ever more collections of… stamps. Stamp collecting isn’t just nerdy, it’s the outer limits of nerdy, it’s “original nerd” classification.
But you see… the apple doesn’t fall from the tree, and I myself love POSTCARDS and did a show of over 1,200 hand painted postcards in 2008 called TimeStamp. We seem to have an appreciation for various types of paper ephemera in my family which cannot be explained. But if you can’t explain it, give it a whirl, right?
Here then is the best of Bill Parr’s stamp library in regards to Halloween-themed concepts, the unsolved mysteries, the freaky miracles, the gothic, horrific and strange tales that can be told through amazingly small squares of interesting prized postage stamps! Enjoy!

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Spotlight on Seafoam Salad!


We’re on a food bandwagon for the moment, finding ways to bide our time until Gothtober launches, and since we’ve been covering autumnal or scary foods, I thought I’d focus on a “scary” one that surprisingly, offers some history. It all started when my friend, Shannon Gallagher, handed me Church Suppers from Publications International, Ltd. saying “Oh, I’ve been meaning to give this to you.”
This collection of edible Americana is a dedicated treasury of time-honored baked, boiled, whirled, tossed, stirred and chilled masterpieces that have graced the counters and tables of religious organizations across the nation. But of all the casseroles, gelatins, puffs, spreads and crunches, the one that really conveys a pious yet humble and down-home type of American determination might be “Seafoam Salad.”
Seafoam salad is mint green, but tastes nothing like mint.
Seafoam salad is full of surprises.
The very illustrious and strange Seafoam salad was popularized by the lunch counter at Woolworth stores (officially open for business in 1878) and exists within the pantheon of the all-time great dessert salads. Unlike Waldorf salad (first created between 1893 and 1896 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City) Seafoam salad’s dominating flavor leans toward sweet, not savory. Over the years, depending upon the region you were raised in, a Seafoam salad might contain pears or pineapples, maraschino cherries, mayonnaise or other unknown variations with the purpose of providing a “high performance” eating experience for luncheons, schools and congregations of sorts.
Seafoam salad is green and creamy or lumpy, which seems sort of like a perfect Halloween dish to me, which is why I’ll share this current version from PIL’s Church Suppers so that you have the most up-to-date version on hand.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cans (8 oz. each) Crushed pineapple in juice
1 package (4 serving size) lime gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2/3 cup celery slices
1 1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

1.) Drain pineapple in sieve. Squeeze pineapple to remove most of the juice. Reserve 3 tablespoons of juice
2.) Place gelatin in medium bowl; stir in boiling water until gelatin is desolved. Stir in cold water and reserved 3 tablespoons pineapple juice.
3.) Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in 1/4 cup gelatin mixture until blended. Slowly beat in remaining gelatin mixture. Chill until thick, about 1 hour.
4.) Stir in pineapple, pecans and celery. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into clear glass serving dish. Chill about 2 hours or until set.
Makes 8 to 10 servings, WOOOOO!