Happy Spamoween!

I am utterly exhausted by ten days straight of Halloween lessons, Halloween blogging, Halloween tv and movies, Halloween treats, Halloween parties, and Halloween. Now that it is nearing its final minutes before November, I have never been more pleased. 

Instead of uploading videos and photos, I spent the evening watching Snyder's Army of Thieves, a prequel to Army of the Dead. I expected it to be bland and background noise while I did other stuff. Instead I found it to be intriguing and enjoyable, mainly thanks to the lead "couple". Ah well.

I did upload 80 pics of costumes and frivolity but no videos except for this one. I've regaled you in the past weeks of my displeasure in not finding a carve-able pumpkin, so I made do with an eggplant and yesterday I tried a mushroom. Doesn't really work. (I had a few other veggies but they decided to turn rotten in the space of a week, so they got tossed.)

So I tried a block of Spam instead!

Eww! 

Add a bit of Ketchup in the mouth for effect (and flavour).

And behold a Spamwich.

Taadaa! Nightmare fuel!

Ya know, I think that's enough for tonight. Time for bed to dream of my Spamkin.

I'll do a post-Halloween wrapup with photos of two parties and the resulting costumes as well as finishing up my Treats and Tricks and hopefully photos of a ton of Kids drawings.

Here's a teaser. Can you identify this man who is about to slay Mickey?

Happiest and Snappiest Halloween to all!

Go to H E Double Hockey Sticks!

Or...Let's get Jigoku with it! The last of my Magnet movies is 地獄 (Jigoku or The Sinners of Hell) and it is also the coolest/spookiest! (Click that link for a few snippets.) Once again, Nobuo Nakagawa strikes fear into the hearts of men with a Faustian trip to Hades!

Here are a few more posters that I dug up.

Unfortunately, I'm too busy today to watch the movie in its entirety, but there's nothing from preventing you from doing so...

Alas, I ran into a malware problem that took me ages to rectify (or has it?) thus I will have to cut this short. I'm on my way to a party but it shan't run late, so perhaps I can update later this evening.

I'll leave you with this Ukiyoe of Scenes of Heaven and Hell by Kuniyoshi.

Be sure to click on it to view it in all its Hellish glory! Here's a description courtesy of the Museum of Arts, Boston. "Amid red flames, the Ten Kings of Hell, led by ferocious King Enma, pronounce judgment on sinners who are them subjected to various tortures such as boiling in a gigantic cauldron. At the upper left is a glimpse of the palaces of Heaven, and the riverbank where the merciful bodhisattva Jizō ministers to the souls of children who died in infancy."

I'm off to Trick and/or Treat!

Kuroneko Day!

Hey, it's National Black Cat Day, a made-up but worthy holiday to celebrate the Black Cat from being a superstitious outcast. Whether you like Sailor Moon's Luna, Sabrina's Salem, or the Hocus Pocus feline, and/or are a big fan of the Marvel villainess, Felicia Hardy, Black Cats are the best. 

Cool, Felicia may be getting her own movie...finally. 

Hey there's even a Black Cat Cafe in Himeji that specializes in only Black Cats.

Also today's movie magnet just happens to be called 亡霊怪猫屋敷 (Bourei Kaibyou Yashiki) which means Black Cat Mansion and it's also directed by Nobuo Nakagawa.

Here is the movie in its entirety, though the title is slightly altered.

I like this poster even better.

Here are a few more posters...

Researching this, I discovered an entire genre of Ghost Cat movies called Kaibyou. The only one I've seen on that list is House but I'll try and rectify that and dig them up. Starting with Kuroneko which means Black Cat.

A few of the kiddies' drawings include cats. Here's a sampling.

I was told that I was NOT allowed to carve the school's pumpkin. Instead, I'm certain it'll be thrown away over the weekend. Sigh. So I started to carve my other veggies beginning with a nasu nice one, an eggplant. I had three criteria. It must be able to fit a candle; it must be edible afterwards; it mustn't be so difficult to cut that I slice my hand open.

The eggplant kind of works and can be fried up afterwards.

Candle is too long.

Needs a bit more hollowing out.

That's about as good as it gets.

The gruesome gourmet.

And I'd be remiss if I ignored Kuniyoshi's love for Cats Lots at that link and a triptych that includes a black cat.

Off to bed now, here is Poe's work, The Black Cat, for you to enjoy. I'm going to read it myself right now.

Return of the Ghost!

Huh, go figure. The movie magnet I showed yesterday is the 1959 version of Yotsuya Kaidan. This magnet is of the 1956 version directed by Masaki Mori. 

Here's a Japanese only clip (that is a tad dull).

 

This version has a minute or two of a subbed version that is far spookier. Spooky YK (Note it is on Facebook Watch so I'm not sure if you'll have access to it.

This 2017 version of Yotsuya Kaidan, has a synopsis and a mini clip, looking very much like an updated Kabuki clone.

Kuniyoshi has a couple of paintings of "The Ghost of Oiwa".

Rats. I have about 200 drawings by kids but I forgot to bring any home to photograph.

I gave each kid some Nail Stickers. One gal proudly showed them off.

These KitKats showed up about 6 weeks ago and were the only Halloween items on display. They disappeared shortly thereafter.

Ten different pictures on the package, I got three of the lower left pumpkin.

Surprisingly, it tastes a bit like apple cinnamon!

Since I don't have any ghostly pics, here is The Call of Cthulhu by artist Austin James. (I didn't bother removing it from its bubble wrap.)

Lastly, here is a selfie of a mesh pumpkin mask. Not too spooky but it does cover up my beard.

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan!

 The Ghost of Yotsuya is the second of my old movie magnets.

Lots of details at this Wiki link. 

Here's a few pics I scammed from the net.

Hey, we haven't found any Kuniyoshi Ukiyoe in a while, here's one of our friendly ghost.

Here's a video of it.

Okay, that wasn't THE video of it, but it should be pretty easy to comprehend.

Ah there it is. Whoa, the whole thing subbed on YouTube! YAY!

Speaking of Ghosts, I just happen to have a handful of prints that my Grade 3s drew in today's class.

I used this Frankenstein mask (sans Unicorn) and a witch cackle to freak out the teachers at school just before they were to start a meeting.

Finally, here are some guordeous gorgeous gourds and hopefully I'll be able to carve the big one on Thursday with my kiddies.

More kid pics over the next few days...